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Akal Takht acting jathedar completes three years
Initially hailed by anti-Badal section, Giani Harpreet Singh’s tenure as Akal Takht acting jathedar has evoked mixed response from Panth
It’s been three years since Giani Harpreet Singh was installed as the acting jathedar of Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs. However, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has neither appointed a permanent jathedar nor accorded this status to him.
The jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib, Giani Harpreet Singh was given the additional charge of Akal Takht on October 30, 2018. His performance in the past three years has evoked a mixed response from the Sikh masses.
Around four years after his predecessor Giani Gurbachan Singh pardoned Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a blasphemy case, which made the office of Akal Takht jathedar lose credibility, Giani Harpreet Singh appeared to have regained the trust of the Panth, especially the anti-Badal section, gradually.
For instance, he got an overwhelming support from the NRI Sikh community when he visited the UK two years ago. He was invited by managements of various gurdwaras, most of which are anti-Badal. He was also felicitated by pro-Khalistan groups.
The acting jathedar was also hailed by the same group back home when he sought a ban on the RSS (parent organisation of Badal-led SAD’s then ally BJP) in 2019, expressed solidarity with Kashmiri activists on the issue of Article 370 abrogation and favoured Pakistan-based pro-Khalistan leader Gopal Singh Chawla during his speech at Nankana Sahib.
However, his speech on the SGPC’s 100th foundation day on November 17, 2020, was a turning point that changed popular perception about him, feel many Sikh thinkers that HT talked to. He tried to make a political pitch for the SAD with its top leaders present on the occasion. The jathedar ended up drawing flak for his speech, especially from the Akali splinter groups.
His statement in favour of Khalistan on the Operation Bluestar anniversary in 2019 also did not go well with a section of Sikhs and other communities in Punjab.
‘Shattered the hopes’
Avtar Singh, a UK-based Sikh thinker, says: “When Giani Harpreet Singh was appointed to the top post, he had boldly raised the Panthic voice, which usually stays mum. There was something courageous in him, that was never seen in his predecessors. Initially, he approached all sections of Sikh intellectuals, irrespective of their critical view about the SAD.”
However, this kind of “impartial approach” continued only for around a year and a half; thereafter, sentiments of the SAD, not of Panth, started reflecting in his speeches and statements, says Avtar Singh.
Sukhdev Singh Phagwara, coordinator of Alliance of Sikh Organisations, says: “He brought a glimmer of hope. He made the quam (community) feel that after a long time, a jathedar is delivering justice to his post. Unfortunately, he stepped back from continuing these actions; thereby shattering these hopes.”
‘Accepted by all sections’
Meanwhile, the community is facing a situation wherein it has five temporal seats but doesn’t have five jathedars, despite the importance of five in the Sikh faith.
SGPC chief secretary (honorary) Harjinder Singh Dhami said as far as Giani Harpreet Singh’s tenure is concerned, he is accepted by all sections of the Panth.
“Right now, he has a dual charge. The SGPC will sit together to give the full-fledged charge of Akal Takht to Giani Harpreet Singh, after finding a new jathedar for Takht Damdama Sahib. However, the issue has not been discussed so far.”
