SGPC VS PANJ PYARAS: A TALE OF PARDON & POLL




Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh

Reminiscent of the dark days of terrorism, confusing signals are emanating from the Sikh religious establishments and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) after the Panj Pyaras (five beloved ones of the Guru) summoned the head priests of all the five Sikh Takhts (seats) on their decision to pardon Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a case of blasphemy. 

The crisis triggered in early October this year when the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), through religious body SGPC, prevailed on the five high priests in getting pardon for the Dera chief on blasphemy in which he apparently wore an attire similar to that of Guru Gobind Singh way back in 2007. The SAD, which is eyeing for electoral gains in the crucial Malwa belt — a stronghold of the Dera — ahead of the Assembly elections in early 2017, it thought that getting a pardon for Dera chief would result in rich electoral dividend.

Following the pardon, there were clear signs of unrest in the Sikh community and the SGPC, controlled by SAD, with dissenting voices emerging from all over the State and numerous Sikh organisations-hardliners as well as the liberals. The reaction forced the five head priests to cancel the pardon given to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief. 

Even though the head priests — Gurbachan Singh (Akal Takht), Mal Singh (Kesgarh Sahib), Gurbaksh Singh (Damdama Sahib), Iqbal Singh (Patna Sahib) and Ram Singh (Hazoor Sahib) cancelled their decision to pardon the Dera chief, the Panj Pyaras rejected their U-turn. They claimed that the flip flop had hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs and the five head priests need to explain their conduct of pardoning Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the first place — something which is unprecedented in Sikh history. 

The five head priests were summoned to Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of Sikhism.The Panj Pyaras owe their genesis to 1699 when Khlasa panth was established by Guru Gobind Singh and since then, they were mainly into conducting religious ceremony for baptism of the Sikhs and lead the Nagar keertan on important religious occasions. They were also authorised to mark religious punishment for the baptized Sikhs who do not follow the tenets of the religion. 

But for the first time in Sikh history, the Panj Pyaras - immaculately dressed with sword drawn and seen leading religious contingents - came out of their shell and said they were authorised to summon the head priests of the five Takhts. The moment the hitherto low profile Panj Pyaras decided to summon the head priests, the SGPC suspended them and transferred three to Sikh Mission Office in Hapur, UP, and two to Kurukshetra in Haryana saying they had exceeded their brief. SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the Panj Pyaras’ decision to summon Takhts’ heads is aimed at causing dissension and division in the community and is also against office rules of the gurdwara body. 

Technically, Panj Pyaras are appointed by the cash rich SGPC and report to this religious body. But Sikh scholars argued that when the Panj Pyaras take a decision, it has to be followed and suspension does not mean anything. They said that Akal Takht takes a call on the wayward behavior of Sikhs and determines a punishment but when the head priest himself takes a wrong decision, Panj Pyaras can summon the priest concerned. Sikh scholars cite the incident of 1699 when the tenth and last master, Guru Gobind Singh obeyed the directions of the Panj Pyaras to leave Anandpur Sahib after the Mughal army surrounded the town. 

But the five head priests refused the summons and did not appear before the Panj Pyaras --- Satnam Singh Khanda, Tirlok Singh, Mangal Singh, Satnam Singh and Major Singh on October 23. Taking a stand, the Panj Pyaras asked the SGPC to remove the Jathedars of five Takhts (seats of Sikh religion), alleging that they had “created furore and restlessness in the community”.

As the stalemate continued on Saturday, hectic parleys were made throughout the day and several SGPC members met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to build a consensus on the contentious issue. All eyes are now on the crucial emergency meeting of the SGPC on October 26, to be held in Chandigarh which would discuss the act of the Panj Pyaras of removing the five jathedars.  (October 25, 2015)

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