Former Jathedar of Akal Takht Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti dies at 70

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 15

Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, former Jathedar of Akal Takht, has passed away on Saturday evening.

According to the details received, he had a heart attack this evening which proved fatal. He has also been the granthi of Sri Harmandar Sahib. He was around 70.

Giani Harpreet Singh, officiating Jathedar of Akal Takht, SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur, Giani Raghbir Singh, Jathedar of Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib expressed deep sorrow on his demise.

Bibi Jagir Kaur said with untimely demise of Jathedar Vedanti, the Sikh community has been deprived of a Panthic personality who had the intense linguistic knowledge of Gurbani.

“His demise has created a vacuum in the Sikh Panthic circles. He spent his entire life preaching Gurbani grammar and guiding new learners about the interpretation of the Gurbani. Today, with his demise, there is a wave of mourning in the Sikh world and the loss of Jathedar Vedanti was irreparable,” she said.

Jathedar Vedanti occupied the highest temporal seat of Sikhs for around seven years till 2008, when he was asked to quit.

Upset over the dera culture in Punjab, he had issued ‘hukumnama’ against Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda ahead of assembly elections in 2007.

Sources told that he also had to pay the price of showering praise on the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for being the symbol of global Sikh identity with his spotless image. This statement of his was not gone down well with the then SAD leadership who was in alliance with the BJP in the state then. His resignation was accepted promptly by the then SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar and Giani Gurbachan Singh took over the charge in August 2008.