Hours after being re-nominated by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from the Payal constituency in Ludhiana district, MLA Manwinder Singh Giaspura on Saturday night paid obeisance at the Golden Temple and visited Akal Takht to tender an apology for levelling caste-bias allegations and making derogatory remarks against Sikh institutions.
Giaspura was declared ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty of religious misconduct) on October 16 by the Sikh clergy. The Akal Takht decree also directed Sikhs to refrain from maintaining any association with him.
The MLA had emailed an apology to Akal Takht on October 22. He visited the Golden Temple complex with his aides on Saturday night and said he had brought a written apology to submit to the Akal Takht secretariat in person.
“I apologised to Akal Takht for every mistake. On the matter of Akal Takht’s October 16 verdict, I had brought a written apology to be submitted to the Akal Takht secretariat in person, but when we got here, the office was closed. I would now depute any of my associates to hand over the apology letter to the secretariat,” Giaspura said in a social media post.
The dispute follows an October 12 incident when Giaspura was stopped from entering the Akal Takht secretariat while accompanying a party delegation.
{{/usCountry}}The dispute follows an October 12 incident when Giaspura was stopped from entering the Akal Takht secretariat while accompanying a party delegation.
{{/usCountry}}Led by Amritsar South MLA and Chief Khalsa Diwan president Inderbir Singh Nijjar, the delegation had arrived to submit a memorandum regarding police entry into Gurdwara Bangla Sahib. Secretariat officials denied Giaspura entry over his earlier objectionable statements he had made against the jathedar and Sikh institutions.
Following the refusal, Giaspura told reporters outside that he was excluded due to his Dalit identity, and allegedly made derogatory comments against the Akal Takht secretariat.
The AAP on Saturday released its first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 Punjab assembly elections, re-nominating sitting legislators. The re-nomination Giaspura drew criticism from the opposition, which accused the AAP of disregarding Sikh sentiments.