Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has criticized Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh for “provoking” people with an ultimatum to the AAP government to release all Sikh youths in a police action against radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his aides. Mann accused the Jathedar of favoring the Badals and claimed that they had “used” several Jathedars for their “vested interests”.
The Jathedar had given a 24-hour ultimatum to the AAP government to release all Sikh youths who were held during the police crackdown against radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his aides. He also condemned the state government for invoking the National Security Act against a few people during the police crackdown.
Mann’s reaction came a day after the Akal Takht Jathedar had convened a special gathering of Sikh organizations, including intellectuals, Sikh lawyers, journalists, religious and social leaders to discuss the current situation in Punjab following the March 18 action against elements of ‘Waris Punjab De’ headed by Amritpal Singh.
In a tweet in Punjabi, Mann lambasted the Jathedar over his ultimatum, stating, “Jathedar Sri Akal Takht Sahib ji. Everyone knows you and SGPC have been favoring the Badals. Look at the history, many Jathedars were used by the Badals for their own interests. It would have been better had you given the ultimatum for the sacrilege and missing ‘saroops’ of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji instead of provoking happily living people.”
The incidents related to the theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters, and torn pages of the holy book being found scattered at Bargari had taken place in Faridkot in 2015. In another case, 328 ‘saroops’ (copies) of Guru Granth Sahib had gone missing from the records of the publication house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Par