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Restore Fakhr-e-Qaum title on Parkash Singh Badal, SAD appeals to Akal Takht

ByVishal Joshi, Muktsar
Jan 15, 2025 05:58 AM IST

On December 2, 2024, the five Sikh high priests, led by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh, had revoked the title on Badal senior, 13 years after it was bestowed on him in the Golden Temple complex in recognition of his services during his long political career.

A month-and-a-half after Parkash Singh Badal was posthumously stripped of the Panth Rattan Fakhr-e-Qaum (pride of the Sikh community) title, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday appealed to Akal Takht to restore the honour on the SAD patriarch and five-time chief minister of Punjab.

Shiromani Akali Dal senior leader Sukhbir Singh Badal addressing a gathering during a rally on the occasion of Maghi Mela in Muktsar on Tuesday. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)
Shiromani Akali Dal senior leader Sukhbir Singh Badal addressing a gathering during a rally on the occasion of Maghi Mela in Muktsar on Tuesday. (Sanjeev Kumar/HT)

A resolution was passed at the traditional convention of the SAD during the annual Maghi Mela in Muktsar.

Led by Badal’s son and former party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, the veteran Akali leader Hira Singh Gabria read out the resolution appealing to the Akal Takht to restore the title bestowed on the late Parkash Singh Badal. It was seconded by the sangat amid the religious slogans.

On December 2, 2024, the five Sikh high priests, led by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh, had revoked the title on Badal senior, 13 years after it was bestowed on him in the Golden Temple complex in recognition of his services during his long political career.

The Akal Takht had also asked the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) working committee to accept Sukhbir’s resignation as the SAD chief and had pronounced the punishment for religious misconduct.

Sukhbir was declared a ‘tankhaiya’ in August after he was held guilty of religious misconduct ‘for mistakes committed by the party when it was in power in Punjab from 2007-17’, including pardoning Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim in 2015 that triggered clashes between Dera followers and Sikhs.

On the occasion, various speakers referred to Sukhbir as the popular and accepted mass leader of the party. Sukhbir also spoke of his paternal legacy of respecting Akal Takht.

“Bapu Badal gave 70 years of his life to the SAD and Sikhism but it’s painful to hear him being called anti-Panthic and against the interests of Punjab. Those who speak against Badal saab are ‘qaum de gaddar’. He was instrumental in reviving law and order in Punjab and he led from the front to protect the interests of the state. There have been attempts to malign him and dent the SAD,” Sukhbir said at the gathering.

“Incidents of sacrilege during the Akali regime had hurt Badal saab the most and he had regretted them. But no one talks about the Congress leadership for the attack on Darbar Sahib (at Golden Temple) in 1984,” Sukhbir said.

The ex-SAD chief said that he accepted all charges (of religious misconduct) before the Akal Takht on the advice of the party as the decade-long bickering was causing chaos in the panth (Sikh community).

“In case my father had committed any mistake, I am ready to own them. But my aim is to work for the upliftment of the panth and fight for the cause of the state,” he added.

Sukhbir said the new political outfit floated by controversial Sikh preacher and jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh’s father Tarsem Singh and Faridkot MP Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, the son of one of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassins, believes in violence.

He concluded his speech by saying that he was ready to make any sacrifice for Punjab and Punjabis.

Sukhbir had a narrow escape when former Khalistani militant Narain Singh Chaura shot at him while he was performing the duty of ‘sewadar’ outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar on December 4. Sukhbir, who was sitting in a wheelchair, escaped unhurt as the bullet hit a wall. Chaura was overpowered and arrested.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sukhbir arrived with folded hands to attend the party’s Maghi rally in Muktsar. Instead of taking a seat on the dais, he sat on the floor along with party workers. After requests from the stage coordinator amid slogans by SAD workers, he got up and reached the stage. SAD rally coordinator and former MLA Kanwarjit Singh Rozy Barkandi said the large gathering indicated that people still accepted Sukhbir as their leader.

SAD acting president Balwinder Singh Bhundar appealed to end the mudslinging and called for a united front to fight against the anti-panthic forces handled by the central agencies and the political parties like the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party for their anti-Punjab policies.

Addressing the rally, SAD secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said Sukhbir had accepted all charges against him in writing and personally appeared before the Akal Takht and had undergone the religious punishment. He alleged a conspiracy against the Badals, saying Sukhbir had been targeted.

Former SAD MLA and Badal loyalist NK Sharma also took a dig at the rebel ‘Sudhar Lehar’ leaders for toeing a religious line “when the SAD is a party of Punjabis irrespective of faith and caste”. He credited Badal senior with ensuring communal harmony in the border state.

Dhami skips event

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami skipped the Maghi mela conference of the SAD in Muktsar on Tuesday. Dhami was expected to be among the key speakers at the rally. According to the information, Dhami reached Muktsar to pay obeisance at the Shaheed Ganj gurdwara but did not reach the conference venue for unspecified reasons.

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