Strip Parkash Singh Badal of Akal Takht honour: HSGMC

Amritsar, April 1

With the SAD facing a defeat in the recent Assembly polls, ad-hoc Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) chief Baljit Singh Daduwal today demanded withdrawal of “Panth Rattan — Fakhr-e-Qaum” (Pride of the community) title bestowed upon former CM and SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal.

The Akal Takht had bestowed the honour on Badal in 2011 in recognition of his ‘services’ to the ‘Panth’ (community). Daduwal, who assumed charge of the HSGMC in 2020, was here to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple.

“When the community has rejected Badal-led SAD in the polls, how can the coveted honour be justified?” he said, urging Takht’s officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh to strip Badal of the title.

Earlier also, voices were raised by several Sikh organisations before the Takht to withdraw the title.

Referring to the SGPC’s writ petition filed in the Supreme Court against separate Haryana Sikh body, he said the hearing had been underway since 2014.

“I urge the SGPC to withdraw this petition as only the ‘golak money’ donated by devotees was being spent on fighting legal cases from either side. Due to Badals’ interference, SGPC’s elections were overdue. I demand the Centre to conduct the polls,” he said. —