Sukhbir Badal performs ‘sewa’ at Fatehgarh Sahib gurdwara in Punjab

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday performed ‘Sewa’ outside a gurdwara in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib amid tight security.

Badal, who was sitting in a wheelchair due to a fractured leg, also listened to ‘kirtan’ and washed dishes in the community kitchen.

The former deputy chief minister, a Z protectee, arrived at the gurdwara surrounded by security personnel. He wore a blue ‘sewadar’ uniform and sat at the gurdwara entrance with a spear in one hand for an hour from 9 am.

Saturday is the fifth day of Badal’s penance for ‘mistakes’ made by the SAD and its government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.

Other SAD leaders, who are also undergoing religious punishment pronounced by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of Sikhs, on December 2, were also present in the gurdwara.

Besides the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Akal Takht has asked Badal to perform ‘sewa’ at the Takht Kesgarh Sahib, Takht Damdama Sahib, and Darbar Sahib in Muktsar and Fatehgarh Sahib for two days each.

On the second day of his penance at the Golden Temple on December 4, Badal had a narrow escape as former Khalistani terrorist Narain Singh Chaura fired at him from a close range but missed as he was overpowered by plainclothes policemen and later arrested.