In a big development, Akal Takht-a supreme temporal authority for Sikhs-framed charges against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal on Friday.
The five Sikh High Priests, under the leadership of Giani Raghubir Singh, pronounced Sukhbir Badal as 'Tankhiya' or guilty of religious misconduct. The clergy ordered Sukhbir to present himself in person before the Akal Takht Sahib within the next 15 days in the form of an ordinary Sikh.
It has also summoned the SAD cabinet members who served from 2007 to 2017, during the tenure of the now-deceased Parkash Singh Badal. They have to explain their acts, which have been termed as anti-Sikh in nature.
The Akal Takht is considered the central religious body for the Sikh community, where a person can come and seek repentance for some sort of religious or moral offense.
On the previous day, following internal displeasure within his party, Sukhbir Badal announced and declared Balwinder Singh Bhunder- a long-time family associate and former Rajya Sabha member as SAD's working president.
The party dissenters along with other organizations taking representation for Sikhs are pressing Badal to quit the presidency.
In a related development, the Akal Takht secretariat issued a letter written by Sukhbir Badal to the Akal Takht Jathedar where he took responsibility for all the mistakes committed by the party or during the SAD(B) regime. Badal said he was ready to accept any punishment which Akal Takht thought fit to award him.
The letter touched upon several contentious issues, including the 2015 sacrilege incidents where the SAD government had allegedly pursued cases against the culprits in a very poor manner. It also speaks about how Sukhbir Badal is accused of using his influence to get a pardon for Dera Sacha Sauda leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh against whom a case was registered in 2007 for mimicking Guru Gobind Singh.
The rebel leaders also drew attention to the fact that the SGPC spent around Rs 90 lakh on publishing advertisements in newspapers to justify the decision to pardon the Dera chief.
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