CHANDIGARH, JANUARY 27: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Jagir Kaur is playing it cool though her dramatic ``excommunication '' from the Sikh community by Giani Puran Singh, Jathedar of Akal Takht, has sent tremors among the Panthic religio-political circles. The development portends trouble for Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who also heads the Akali Dal. Badal had appropriated all the religio-political powers last year to emerge as the Supreme leader.Jagir Kaur, under whose presidentship Giani Puran Singh was appointed Jathedar of the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs for prayer and politics, has been ex-communicated from the Sikh community for violating the supreme institution by the same Jathedar.Talking to The Indian Express, she asserted she had done no wrong, nor violated the supreme institution of the community. She made it clear she was a humble servant of the Panth and had no lust for any office. She said she would continue to serve the Panth in her humble way.Her ex-communication comes as a climax to the confrontation between the SGPC, which is also known as the mini-parliament of the Sikhs, and the Akal Takht on the issue of implementation of the Nanakshahi calender which was being opposed by Giani Puran Singh. Interestingly, the decision in principle to implement the calender was taken by the SGPC under the leadership of Gurcharan Singh Tohra. The Nanakshahi calender, which threatens to divide the Sikh community vertically, is an assertion of the separate Sikh identity. Both Jagir Kaur and Tohra favour its implementation while Badal has so far kept himself aloof from this controversy.An 11-member committee was constituted at a meeting attended by Jagir Kaur and the Sikh clergy including Giani Puran Singh recently to resolve the issue. This committee led by Dr. Kharak Singh was to submit its report by March 15 to the high priests. It was then to be presented at the general house of the SGPC to pave the way for the implementation of the calender.Sources said Giani Puran Singh was apprehending his removal and thus has tried to pre-empt Jagir Kaur.Tohra justified the action in ex-communicating Jagir Kaur and said it had come as a climax to the violation of the Akal Takht maryada (code of conduct) by Badal and his coterie beginning with the removal of then Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh. He blamed Badal for denigrating the supreme Sikh seat which had now boomeranged. He said Jagir Kaur had also posed threat to the supremacy of the Akal Takht by violating its Jathedar on the calender issue.Tohra said Giani Puran Singh was fully authorised to take such action at his own and it was not unprecedented. He recalled the punishment awarded to Maharaja Ranjit Singh by then Akal Takht Jathedar Akali Phoola Singh. He also cited the example of the action by Akal Takht Jathedar against Sardar Bahadur Buta Singh for defying the decision of the Akali Dal against attending the Round Table Conference.However, Gurtej Singh , National Professor of Sikhism, who expressed shock and disbelief, asserted the Jathedar had no right to take such action unilaterally. ``Such an action needs social sanction from the community'', he said. The known procedure is that the person guilty of misconduct is first summoned to present himself at Akal Takht and given a chance to explain himself. The ex-communication is the last step.However, the scholars justify such an extreme action if there is sanction of the community as happened in some cases after Operation Bluestar.Former minister Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, an associate of Tohra, said it was high time for Badal and Jagir Kaur to accept the supremacy of Akal Takht as all their actions earlier had gone unchallenged. He said Badal should desist from repeating his mistakes.
