Punjab CM hits out at Akal Takht Jathedar for 'provoking' people | Amritpal crackdown

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Tuesday hit out at Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh for "provoking" people through an ultimatum to the AAP government to release all Sikh youths arrested in a police action against radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his aides.

Mann accused the Jathedar of favouring the Badals and also told him that the Badals had "used" several Jathedars for their "vested interests".

The CM told the Jathedar of Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, that it would have been better had he issued the ultimatum in the sacrilege and missing 'saroops' of Guru Granth Sahib.

Mann's reaction came a day after the Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpeet Singh had given a 24-hour ultimatum to the AAP government to release all Sikh youths who were held during the police crackdown against radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his aides.

The Jathedar also condemned the state government for invoking the National Security Act against a few people during the police crackdown.

The Jathedar of Akal Takht in Amritsar had convened a special gathering of Sikh organizations, including intellectuals, Sikh lawyers, journalists, religious and social leaders to discuss the current situation in Punjab following the March 18 action against elements of 'Waris Punjab De' headed by Amritpal Singh.

Lambasting the Jathedar over his ultimatum, Mann in a tweet in Punjabi said, "Jathedar Sri Akal Takht Sahib ji. Everyone knows you and SGPC have been favouring the Badals.

Look at the history, many Jathedars were used by the Badals for their own interests. It would have been better had you given the ultimatum for the sacrilege and missing 'saroops' of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji instead of provoking happily living people." The incidents related to the theft of a 'bir' (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters, and torn pages of the holy book being found scattered at Bargari had taken place in Faridkot in 2015.

In another case, 328 'saroops' (copies) of Guru Granth Sahib had gone missing from the records of the publication house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.