SGPC suspends Panj Pyaras as Punjab simmers

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which administers gurdwaras across the country, said the decision of the Panj Pyaras to summon the five high priests, or jathedars, to the Akal Takht was aimed at dividing the community.

“It is also against office rules,” SGPC chief president Avtar Singh Makkar said.

Appointed by the SGPC, the Panj Pyaras conduct baptisim ceremonies at the Akal Takht and also lead nagar kirtans (religious processions). They rarely interfere in the working of the religious bodies.

So, when they met at the Akal Takht, housed in the Golden Temple complex, in the morning and announced the decision to summon the jathedars, including Akal Takht chief Giani Gurbachan Singh, on October 23, it sent shockwaves across the state.

They had the authority to summon the jathedars in exceptional circumstances, the Panj Pyaras said, adding they were under intense pressure from the community that had questioned the Akal Takht’s decision to pardon the Sirsa dera head and then withdraw it.

The general view was the pardon should have been granted in consultation with the community, they said, asking the high priests to clarify their position.

Sensing growing defiance, Makkar moved swiftly and suspended the Panj Pyaras and five others.

The concept of the Panj Pyaras was created by Guru Gobind Singh. The tenth Sikh guru himself had to submit to their will when they asked him to leave Anandpur Sahib after the Mughal army laid siege to the town.

Wednesday’s developments, say experts, also called into question the authority of the Akal Takht and not just the SGPC, both controlled by the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The BJP is the junior partner in the government. Rahul Gandhi visited the family in the morning and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Haryana chief minister, BJP and RSS of practicing “politics of crushing” those who are weak and poor.

“In Haryana, there is no government for the poor and poor people are being targeted here, which is totally wrong,” he said.

Gandhi also appeared to lose his cool when asked if the visit was a photo-op. “It is insulting that someone says that. It’s not insulting to me, but it’s insulting to these people. People are dying left, right and centre in this country. People are being beaten up,” he said. “Yes, absolutely I will visit.”

Left leader Brinda Karat, Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, senior Congress leader Kumari Selja also visited the family.

Hours later, Gurjar said Gandhi was trying to vitiate the atmosphere and insisted the rivalry between two families couldn’t be termed a clash between two castes.

The Centre also asked for a report with home minister Rajnath Singh and social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot speaking to Khattar, asking him to ensure such incidents weren’t repeated.

The SAD’s gamble to seek pardon for Ram Rahim, who enjoys a considerable following in many parts of the state and can influence electoral fortunes, backfired. Punjab is due for elections in 2017.

The SAD misread the mood of the people who were unhappy with the dera chief for allegedly insulting Guru Gobind Singh.

By the time the pardon was revoked it was too late. The incidents of defiling of the Granth Sahib, which caught the government unawares, only fanned the anger against the ruling combine also battling a farm crisis over a failed cotton crop.

DALITS CONSTITUTE ABOUT A QUARTER OF THE STATE’S POPULATION BUT ARE OFTEN AT THE RECEIVING END OF BRUTAL VIOLENCE

day marked for the “bhog” or ritual memorial service for those killed in police firing in Fardikot. They said the next course of action would be decided on that day.

As security forces struggled to control waves of angry protesters, Union minister and Akali leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal blamed a “foreign hand” behind the crisis.

Her father-in-law and chief minister Badal echoed similar views. He said some forces, both from within and outside the country, were trying to disrupt the state’s hard-earned peace.

He also exhorted the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance to work zealously to thwart any attempt to disturb harmony.

But his coalition government drew a barrage of fire from the opposition Congress, which sought the chief minister’s resignation for “failing to control the situation”.

State Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa said the senior Badal as well his son, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal, had failed in their task of maintaining peace and demanded a probe by a sitting judge into the series of incidents of sacrilege.

The AAP, which will be contesting its first assembly election outside of Delhi in Punjab in 2017, demanded setting up of a Supreme Courtsupervised special investigative tribunal to investigate acts of violence and asked the government to pay Rs 1 crore each to the families of those who died in police firing.

“The way that the police opened fire on innocent people who were protesting peacefully is highly objectionable,” the party said.

HTC