Sikh bodies seek excommunication of Sukhbir, other leaders

After the ardas, they handed over a memorandum to the Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh. In jathedar’s absence, Golden Temple manager Rajinder Singh Ruby received the memo.

Members of various Sikh organisations on Sunday held a gathering at Akal Takht to perform ardas (prayer) for the implementation of the December 2 hukamnama (decree) of the highest Sikh temporal seat and sought excommunication of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders for allegedly violating the seven-member panel directive.

Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh

Before performing ardas at the Takht, the leaders of various Sikh bodies, including Shiromani Akali Dal 1920, Alliance of Sikh Organizations, International Sikh Federation, Misal Sutlej, Darbar-e-Khalsa, Giani Dit Singh Sahit Sabha, held a demonstration outside the Golden Temple complex.

After the ardas, they handed over a memorandum to the Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh. In jathedar’s absence, Golden Temple manager Rajinder Singh Ruby received the memo.

Seeking implementation of the decree without any delay, the Sikh leaders said: “Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders of his camp are questioning the sovereignty of Akal Takht and authority of the jathedars instead of following their directives, due to which the Sikhs of the whole world are in unrest today”.

In the memorandum, the Panthic leaders requested that instead of holding a meeting of the Sikh clergy, a meeting of the representatives of the panth should be called to take a decision to expel leaders of the Badal camp for not obeying the December 2 decree.