Former Akal Takht jathedar’s meeting with Virsa Valtoha raises religio-political concerns

In a surprise development, former Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh paid a visit to the residence of ‘expelled’ Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Virsa Singh Valtoha here on Tuesday.

Though Valtoha, a close confidant of the Badal family, termed it as a ‘personal get-together’, yet this meeting amidst the ongoing religious turmoil over the termination, removal and appointment of the Takht Jathedars and Valtoha too facing ‘expulsion’ orders from the SAD, raise significant concerns. This meeting also pointed towards a possibility of some transformation in political-religio equations.

Denying it outright, Valtoha said he shared personal bonding with Bhai Ranjit Singh devoid of political ideological differences and that he had come just to inquire about the well-being of his wife who had recently undergone a medical treatment.

“When my wife was admitted to a hospital in Chandigarh, he often came to see her there too. He was in Amritsar and called me up and met my family,” he said while assuring that he would share the pictures of this meeting on his social media page.

Bhai Ranjit Singh has been quite vocal against the SAD led by the Badals. He remained the Akal Takht jathedar from December 1996 to January 1999.

He was removed unceremoniously from the highest temporal post for supporting the then SGPC head Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who had strained relations with Parkash Singh Badal, the then SAD president. Following Tohra’s removal, Bibi Jagir Kaur was appointed the SGPC head and Giani Puran Singh had replaced Bhai Ranjit Singh then.

“He might have ideological differences with the Badal family, but whenever we meet, we never talk about the politics,” he said while reminiscing about his jail term with him in the 80s.

Bhai Ranjit Singh served sentence for the murder of a Nirankari sect leader in 1980. “Incidentally, I was also in the same jail during the similar span. So, we shared an old bonding with no political agenda,” he said.

Asked if he had sought any advice from him over approaching the Akal Takht seeking review of the adverse directions against him, Valtoha said in the negative.