Why SGPC has scrapped its move to excommunicate Sukhbir Badal’s shooter | Political Pulse News

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)’s executive panel has rejected its own recent resolution seeking excommunication of Narain Singh Chaura, who allegedly opened fire at Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and ex-Punjab deputy chief minster Sukhbir Singh Badal at the gate of the Golden Temple in Amritsar on December 4, when he was serving his “tankhaiya (religious punishment)” awarded by the Akal Takht, the Sikh community’s highest temporal seat.

A former militant, Chaura was arrested after the incident and has since been in custody.

On December 9, the SAD-dominated SGPC had urged the Akal Takht to excommunicate Chaura from the community, even as the Dal Khalsa, an ex-militants’ outfit, strongly opposed the move.

In the face of such opposition, the SGPC has now made a U-turn. This is perhaps for the first time that the Sikh community’s apex religious body decided to “reject” its own resolution, and that too in such a short span of time. Significantly, the SAD had also demanded Chaura’s excommunication.

Dal Khalsa pacified

Chaura was not a member of the Dal Khalsa, although he has had ties with several former militants.

Earlier, responding to the SGPC’s resolution against Chaura, the Dal Khalsa had said: “The unprincipled and directionless Akali leadership has made SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami a scapegoat by making unreasonable and uncalled for demand through the SGPC… (which) will create bad blood among moderate and hardliner Sikhs and the consequences of which will affect the entire community.”

Speaking to The Indian Express following the SGPC’s U-turn, Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh claimed, “I have information that SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami was uncomfortable with the resolution from the very beginning. He approved it to toe the party line but was never truly in agreement with it.”

In his earlier stint as a lawyer, Dhami had often represented ex-militants in courts.

“We had goodwill of Dhami, and the resolution threatened it. However, the rejection of the resolution has restored our trust in him,” Kanwar Pal said.

Dhami has not made any comments after the resolution was overturned.

Challenges for SAD, SGPC

On the day of Chaura’s alleged attack, Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar made a statement that the police was also investigating “whether sympathy was a factor” behind the incident. He did not elaborate it.

Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia then accused the police of allegedly colluding with Chaura, citing CCTV footage that purportedly showed the latter speaking with Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Harpal Singh in the Golden Temple premises before the attack.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the lawyer of the accused, Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, claimed that on the same day Chaura had also met the SGPC chief.

“Chaura told us that Dhami stopped and hugged him inside the Darbar Sahib premises on December 4. He provided an estimated time and location of their meeting. Chaura and Dhami know each other, and this is likely why the SGPC has been reluctant to share the CCTV footage with the police. We fear the SGPC might delete footage showing Dhami embracing Chaura,” said Manjhpur.

The row appears to have dented the narratives of the SGPC as well as the SAD which was hoping to garner sympathy for Sukhbir Badal and the party in the wake of the attack.

Both the SAD and the SGPC are also facing heat from suspended Takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh.

The SGPC recently suspended Giani Harpreet Singh after he accused some SAD leaders of allegedly running a campaign for his “character assassination” to divert attention from the directives issued by the Akal Takht, which called for the resignation of Sukhbir Badal as the Akali Dal president and for the party’s reorganisation starting with a membership drive followed by internal elections.

The SGPC also set up a panel to probe into allegations against Harpreet Singh.

The SAD’s apparent failure to implement the Akal Takht’s directives fully has heightened tensions, with Harpreet Singh not appearing to back down.

Observers of panth politics said that Sukhbir Badal’s submission at Akal Takht on December 2 and his acceptance of religious punishment was also meant to improve the battered party’s image among Sikhs. However, Harpreet Singh’s bid to up the ante against the party has cast a shadow on it, they said.

Against this backdrop, the SGPC’s resolution against Chaura upset Dal Khalsa and other Sikh radical organisations. By rolling it back, the SGPC has made an attempt to pacify them, although they may still keep the heat on the SAD for implementation of the Akal Takht’s directive for party reorganisation.

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