Those challenging Takht can’t get away

AMRITSAR, July 21: Jathedar of the Akal Takht Bhai Ranjit Singh today said that he would not allow any Akali leader to play the role of `...

AMRITSAR, July 21: Jathedar of the Akal Takht Bhai Ranjit Singh today said that he would not allow any Akali leader to play the role of “middleman” between the Akal Takht and certain Sikh leaders of Canada and America who were defying the hukamnama of the Akal Takht, restraining Sikhs from taking “langar” while sitting on chairs.

While talking to media persons here today Bhai Ranjit Singh said that senior vice president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Sukhdev Singh Bhaur and Sucha Singh Langah, a minister in the Badal government who had

gone abroad had made it an issue of hardliners and soft liners. He said this was not the case earlier.

Bhai Ranjit Singh said the opinion over the hukamnama was divided between those who believed in the supremacy of the Akal Takht on the one hand and those who did not. He said two functionaries of a Gurdwara in Surrey (Canada) Balwant Singh Gill and Tara Singh Hair had directly challenged the Akal Takht order and even threatened to file a defamation case against him.

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Bhai Ranjit Singh said that the Akal Takht was supreme and that he had issued the hukamnama after discussions with the five high priests. He said unfortunately, certain high priests in the previous years had also taken langar while sitting on chairs. He said the tradition of taking langar while sitting on the ground was started by the Sikh Gurus and the practice cannot be done away with at any cost.

He warned that nobody could get away for long after challenging the authority of the Akal Takht. Bhai Ranjit Singh had declared Gill and Hair tankhayia and had issued summons to them to appear before the Akal Takht on July 25 for violating the hukamnama. He said he had not yet received confirmation on any of the foreign Sikh leaders appearing on July 25.

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