Takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar alleges character assassination bid to divert attention from Akal Takht decisions on SAD

“I will not resign. If the SGPC wants to remove me then they can. I will welcome the decision,” he said.

On Wednesday, before addressing a press conference at the Takht Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo, he responded to allegations that he had an illicit relationship with a female relative.

The jathedar said: “I have said this in clear words to those who had approached me. And I am saying this again. I will not be part of sin by attending any meeting of jathedars to divert the directions issued from the Akal Takht Sahib on December 3.”

The jathedar alleged that one Nachatar Singh had paid for defamatory social media posts against him. The head of the SAD’s IT wing is a namesake, but the jathedar did not clarify if both are the same person.

On how these directions can be undermined, the jathedar said, “They can be something on the resignation clause, members of committees and reorganisation of party.”’

‘Decision of five jathedars’

“I am afraid that the SAD working committee demanded an extra 20 days to implement the decisions of the Akal Takht so that these days can be used for my character assassination. They want to damage my reputation and make me run away,” the jathedar said.

“My crime is that I was part of the decisions taken from the Sri Akal Takht Sahib on December 2. That was the decisions of five jathedars, but only I was trolled. There were times when the Akalis were known for respecting and protecting the modesty of women. I will not call those who trolled me Akalis. They are followers of a group. They should read the history of the SAD, which used to fight for the panth and not for some individual,” he said.

On whether the December 2 decisions will be altered, he said: “You will know in the coming days. I need not to say. Whether or not the decisions will be changed will be in the court of the panth.”

While announcing the religious sentence for SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and others, Akal Takht Sahib Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh had said: “The leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal has lost its moral authority to lead the Sikh panth politically due to its actions. Therefore, the five Singh Sahibans have formed a committee to assign the duty to initiate the reorganisation of the Shiromani Akali Dal. The recruitment process must not be bogus, and members must be enrolled with a copy of their Aadhaar card. Along with existing delegates, new delegates must be appointed, and within six months, elections for the president and other office-bearers must be conducted as per the constitution.”

The Akal Takht jathedar had also asked the SAD working committee to accept the resignation of Sukhbir Singh Badal.

While Sukhbir Singh Badal, along with the SAD leadership, completed his atonement, so far no step has been taken to follow the Akal Takht directions on the party’s reorganisation.

A section of Sikhs say the December 2 decisions were not strict enough, but people against whom the decisions were taken say otherwise, according to the jathedar.

Giani Harpreet Singh has faced trolling on social media over the Akal Takht decisions, with allegations targeting his personal life. “A former SAD leader and some Akali leaders from Muktsar have roped in a person to level false defamatory allegations on me. Interviews of that person have been organised on channels. I have used my lawyer to get these defamatory interviews removed. A fake social media page was also created in my name. I got that page deleted by making a complaint to the government,” he said.

“I pray to the almighty that if any of these allegations are true then I should be doomed. But none of these allegations are true. I paid for the education of my sister-in-law and then got her married. She is like my daughter. She faced domestic violence in her marriage and was separated from her husband. These incidents are 18 years old. Now I have been targeted on social media with false allegations as some people are not happy with the Sri Akal Takht Sahib decisions made on December 2. My family is also targeted,” the jathedar said.

Meanwhile, a video has surfaced showing Giani Harpreet Singh losing his temper while arguing with Virsa Singh Valtoha, who was summoned to the Akal Takht on October 15 for accusing him of having relations with the BJP. Giani Harpreet Singh is seen using an abusive word.

Responding to the video, Giani Harpreet Singh said: “I don’t know how this clip came out. The clip had only one copy and that was with (Akal Takht Jathedar) Giani Raghbir Singh. If the full video is released, then people will criticise us (jathedars) for not thrashing Valtoha.”

The Akal Takht ordered the SAD to expel Valtoha and he was told to stop defaming jathedars on December 2.