Skip to main content

Akal Takht Jathedar attacks authoritarian and Hindutva policies of Modi government in Diwali message


 

Akal Takht Jathedar targets Modi government, skips crisis relating to missing Granths

Jagtar Singh

Ground Zero

 

Of late, Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh has been giving out signals of revival of this supreme religio-political institution of the Sikhs for prayer and politics. However, he has also started slipping on certain important issues relating to Sikh religio-political dynamics, a sign that betrays his inability to confront the crucial issues within the Sikh domain.

His traditional message to the Sikhs at large on Diwali and Bandi Chhod Divas has to be  analysed in this context.

He seemed to be pressing all the right buttons. However, his message would have attained more credibility in case he had questioned the role of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee too, especially in the context of the 328 missing Birs of Guru Granth Sahib, an issue that has serious ramifications. This aspect has opened him to the criticism of not functioning as Jathedar of the Akal Takht who is supposed to be above factionalism of every kind. It is a different matter that this issue also relates to the role of the Akal Takht itself under the changing Sikh praxis in the context of the Sikhs being a global community.

Giani Harpreet Singh alerted against the policies of homogenization and authoritarianism  of the BJP government headed by Narendra Modi of which the Shiromani Akali Dal has been the part till recently. These policies are being practiced since 2014 when the BJP came into power. The Akali Dal has been in alliance with this party having core ideology of Hindutva since 1996 and parted ways only under pressure from the farmers struggle.

He talked of black laws and detention of people with progressive and pro-people ideas; increasing incidents of discrimination against minorities and tribals and attack on diversity. he referred to the violation of human rights.

He extended support to the struggle by the farmers against new farm trade practices introduced by the Modi government with the enactment of three  acts. It is in Punjab that these acts have provoked the most vociferous protests. These acts were initially strongly defended by Akali  stalwarts Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Parkash Singh Badal, in that order.

Giani Harpreet Singh rightly praised the role of the Sikh community at the global level since the outbreak of Covid.

He targeted the Modi government without making any direct reference to the BJP or the RSS.

His message  coincided with the 100th anniversary of the formation of the SGPC that constituted the Akali Dal within a few days on December 14, 1920. The SGPC attained statutory status with the implementation of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925.

The Jathedar should have referred to it too. The functioning of the SGPC has been under attack. This body has become a pliable instrument in the hands of one dominant political family. This downfall started after Gurcharan Singh Tohra had to go unceremoniously in 1999 after he differed with then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on some issues relating to functioning of Akali Dal.

Even the structure of Darbar Singh (Golden Temple) can’t be changed but it has been tinkered with to convert it into studio for live transmission of Gurbani. None has questioned it. The Sikhs have not realized the damage done to the structure, including its earlier majestic look. The Maryada is also under threat.

The latest issue that has hit the Sikh religio-political domain  is that of 328 missing Birs of Guru Granth Sahib. The Sikhs have a right to know as to who were the people who were given these Birs without bringing them on record. The probe committee had been constituted by Giani Harpreet Singh but that should not deter him from ordering follow up action.

Giani Harpreet Singh is also a Sikh scholar and he should not allow the position of the Akal Takht Jathedar to be misused or exploited by the vested interests in the religio-political domain.

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed

  Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Let us decode deeper design in what apparently seems to be deliberate distortion of facts in case of the so-called Sikh-Hindu clash in Canada to project it as confrontation between the two communities. The Indian media and the establishment gave it out as a communal conflict and attack on a Mandir, the Hindu place of worship. Let us first put the matter straight from the evidence available in the form of videos relating to every dimension of this narrative and the statements. It was neither a Sikh-Hindu clash nor an attack on the Hindu temple per se. It was a protest by the SFJ activists against the Indian consulate organizing a camp there. Such protests have been held against the consulate outside the gurdwaras too as per the record. The saner statement issued by the Hindu Federation of November 4 is very important in the interpretation of this narra...
Post a Comment
Read more

History seems to be ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again

  History ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again Ground Zero Jagtar Singh This headline is not rooted in some sort of pessimism. The signals are loud and clear. The onus to counter such signals is on the Punjab government. History in Punjab seems to be repeating itself to push Punjab into yet another cycle of what can be termed as the avoidable toxic situation. That cycle has now impacted even geo-political relations of India with some countries, especially Canada where the Sikhs are settled in sizeable numbers. In the context of the Sikhs as a globalized people, it is pertinent to mention that even in United Kingdom House of Commons, the representation of the Sikhs is now in double digit after the recent elections. Punjab is still impacted by the tremors of religio-political   dynamics that got triggered in 1978 with the Sikh-Nirankari clash on the Baisakhi on April 13 at Amritsar, the religious capital of the Sikhs. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial

  Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, May 28: The inter-play of socio-political forces in Punjab in the run up to the June 1 Lok Sabha elections is unprecedented. This is besides that established fact that the religio-political dynamics of this state has always been different from the rest of India, even when the boundaries of this country touched the Khyber Pass connecting with Afghanistan. It is for the first time that so many main political players are in the fray independently thereby making the contest multi-polar. Then there are two other eruptions in the electoral matrix making the multi-polar contest all the more interesting, and also important for future dynamics of not only Punjab but also India as the roots of this phenomena are not in too distant a past but in not so recent period of militancy. It is after decades that Punjab is going to the polls without a...
Post a Comment
Read more