Former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Akali Dal chief, has begun his ‘tankhah’ as awarded by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of the Sikhs. Visuals this morning showed Badal sitting on a wheelchair at the entrance of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, with a placard around his neck and a spear in his hand.
He was joined in this atonement by senior Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who started serving his sentence by washing utensils at the Golden Temple. Badal has been sentenced to serve as a ‘sewadar’, doing cleaning work in the kitchens and toilets in various gurdwaras, including the Golden Temple. This punishment stems from his support of Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, in the 2015 sacrilege case involving the Guru Granth Sahib.
In August, Akal Takht had convicted Sukhbir Badal of religious misconduct. It had cited the series of mistakes committed by his party during its rule in Punjab from 2007 to 2017 as the basis for their decision and termed him a “tankhaiya”, a term used for a person found guilty of religious transgressions. Badal subsequently admitted to the mistakes and tendered an unconditional apology before Akal Takht.
The exact terms of his penance were recently declared. Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh has also asked the Akali Dal working committee to accept Badal’s resignation as party chief. Along with other core committee members from the Akali Dal who were in service in 2015, Badal has been instructed to clean the bathrooms at the Golden Temple for one hour, after which they will join in serving langar.
In a major crackdown, the late Parkash Singh Badal, father of Sukhbir and former Chief Minister of Punjab, has been divested of the Fakhr-e-Qaum honor, accorded to him in 2011 for his services to the Sikh community.
Sukhbir Badal was convicted due to his influence in getting a pardon for Ram Rahim after the Dera chief was ex-communicated by Sikh authorities for his controversial actions, including dressing like Sikh Gurus and conducting a ceremony. These events sparked clashes between Dera followers and Sikhs within Punjab.
