Jalandhar: For the past few months, Punjab's Sikh religious and political issues have been making national headlines, raising questions about the functioning and supremacy of Sikhism's top institutions.

The latest conflict in the news is between the Sri Akal Takht Sahib, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs based in Amritsar, and the Sri Takht Patna Sahib situated in Patna, Bihar, which have challenged each other’s decisions and sought to penalise members of each other's Sikh clergy.

There are five Sikh takhts or seats of power, of which three are in Punjab – the Akal Takht Sahib; the Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib; and the Takht Sri Damdama Sahib situated near Bathinda.

The other two are the Patna Sahib and the Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib in Nanded, Maharashtra.

The Wire explains the factors that led to this crisis.

Conflict culminates as Patna Sahib deems SAD chief ‘tankhaiya’; Akal Takht retaliates

During the conflict, the heads (jathedars) of both the Akal Takht Sahib and the Takht Patna Sahib have been writing letters challenging each other’s decisions.

In a fresh development, the high priests of the Takht Patna Sahib on Saturday (July 5) declared Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal ‘tankhaiya’ or guilty of religious misconduct for failing to appear before them despite being given three opportunities to do so.

The Takht Patna Sahib blamed Badal of ‘conspiring’ against its interests and ‘interfering’ in its work.

However, on Saturday evening, the Akal Takht Sahib rejected the pronouncement and in turn declared three of the Takht Patna Sahib's five high priests – namely additional head granthi Bhai Gurdial Singh and two members of its management committee, Harpal Singh Johal and Gurmeet Singh – tankhaiya. The Akal Takht Sahib's clergy directed them to clear their stand within 15 days.

The Akal Takht Sahib passed a resolution condemning the Takht Patna Sahib's edicts as unauthorised and contrary to Sikh tradition, asserting that they undermined its own supremacy.

It also made it clear that the ‘Gurmat tradition’ (Sikh teachings and principles laid by the ten Sikh gurus) recognised the Akal Takht Sahib as the final authority on religious matters.

Earlier in May, the Takht Patna Sahib's management had written a letter to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami mentioning Badal's delay in appearing before them. The SGPC is responsible for managing and administering gurdwaras.

In the same letter, the Takht Patna Sahib declared the acting jathedar of the Akal Takht Sahib, Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, and Bhai Tek Singh Dhanaula of the Takht Damdama Sahib, tankhaiya for challenging its constitution, interfering with the powers of the local management and issuing edicts against its decisions.

The letter read, “It has come to our notice that in a bid to influence the edicts of Takht Patna Sahib, Akal Takht Sahib head Kuldeep Singh Gargaj was conspiring against the committee of Takht Patna Sahib.”

The Akal Takht Sahib too in a letter dated May 21, 2025 asked jathedar and head granthi Baldev Singh and Gurdial Singh from the Takht Patna Sahib to appear before it, as it had punished them for allegedly not being able to recite the Gurbani (compositions by the Sikh gurus) and had banned them from performing their religious duties.

What sparked the latest conflict between the two takhts?

Behind these developments lie the controversial decisions taken after Badal and other SAD leaders were awarded religious punishment for their ‘mistakes’ by the Akal Takht Sahib on December 2, 2024.

Sikh experts said that although Badal completed his punishment, his camp managed to remove all those jathedars who had pronounced the decree against him.

Within two months of Badal completing his punishment, the Akal Takht Sahib's ex-acting chief Giani Harpreet Singh was removed over charges of misconduct, and Gargaj was appointed as new acting head, much to the disappointment of many top Sikh leaders.

This led to resentment among various Sikh institutions, including the Damdami Taksal, a Sikh seminary once headed by the insurgent Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, and the Takht Patna Sahib.

Notably, the Akal Takht Sahib and the Takht Patna Sahib had clashed in 2008 too, when the then-Patna Sahib jathedar Giani Iqbal Singh, claiming supremacy over the Akal Takht Sahib, had excommunicated its jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti. Iqbal Singh was later found guilty of religious misconduct.

Fight for political dominance or religious supremacy?

Jasbir Singh Patti, a senior journalist covering Sikh religious affairs, said that the Takht Patna Sahib was involved in controversy earlier too, owing to its ‘proximity’ to the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The Takht Patna Sahib has its own authority in appointing jathedars, which it shares with the Bihar government.

Similarly, ex-Takht Patna Sahib jathedar Ranjit Singh Gohar was also involved in controversies, including those pertaining to the alleged embezzlement of gurdwara funds. Gohar was excommunicated and removed by the Takht Patna Sahib's clergy in 2022.

However, he approached the courts and was granted relief, after which he asked the Takht Patna Sahib's clergy to re-appoint him as jathedar, but they refused, Patti said.

Seeking justice, Gohar then approached the Akal Takht Sahib, who after holding an inquiry lifted the ban on him on May 21, 2025.

Reacting to this development, the Takht Patna Sahib sent a letter to SGPC chief Dhami, pointing to Akal Takht chief Gargaj's interference in its affairs.

“This is where that letter mentioning a conspiracy by Gargaj came into the picture. Gargaj's appointment as the acting chief of the Akal Takht Sahib has not gone down well with the Takht Patna Sahib,” Patti said.

“What started as a fight for political dominance,” Patti said referring to the Takht Patna Sahib leadership's purported alignment with the BJP/RSS, “has turned into a battle of ego, pitting takht against takht.” He added that the issue can be sorted out only if both takhts decide to take back the edicts issued against each other.

Can the Takht Patna Sahib challenge the Akal Takht Sahib?

Political observer Malwinder Singh Malli, who served in the SGPC with the body's longest serving chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, said that the enactment of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 had changed the Sikh religious landscape for good.

“The Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 is meant for the management of the gurdwaras under its jurisdiction, whereas the Akal Takht does not fall under the purview of this Act and is free and independent,” he said.

Sharing an old letter of a meeting of the dharam prachar committee of SGPC dated February 20, 1999, Malli said, “The Sikh clergy [of the Akal Takht Sahib] passed a resolution that neither the jathedar of the Akal Takht Sahib can be dismissed, nor can he be called [to give an] explanation. This right lies only with the Sarbat Khalsa, or the traditional assembly of the entire Sikh community.”

He said that before 1999, the appointment of the Akal Takht chief was done in the presence of SGPC members, Sikh religious leaders, Sikh scholars, Sikh sampardaye [sects] and the chief khalsa diwan among others.

“Only that person who had the support of the Sikh panth [the community] was appointed as the head of the Akal Takht. However, that is not the case now,” he added.

It was in 1999 that the then-Akal Takht Sahib jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh and ex-SGPC chief Tohra were removed from the top posts by ex-chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, marking the beginning of Badal's command over the Sikh institutions.

Later, Bibi Jagir Kaur was appointed as SGPC chief and Bhai Puran Singh as the head of Akal Takht Sahib.

Malli said that the conflict between the Akal Takht Sahib and the Takht Patna Sahib was the result of the wrong precedent set by the Badal family.

“And the current crisis is the doing of Sukhbir Badal, who in a bid to control the SGPC and the Akal Takht removed all those who declared him tankhaiya,” he said.

He recalled that while the Takht Patna Sahib declared Gargaj and Takht Damdama Sahib head Dhanaula as tankhaiya, the Akal Takht Sahib had in turn banned the religious services of two of its jathedars for allegedly not being able to recite the Gurbani.

Further, the jathedars of the three-Punjab based takhts also lifted the ban on Gohar, the excommunicated Takht Patna Sahib jathedar, he said.

He also clarified that the Takht Patna Sahib cannot summon Sukhbir Badal. “The Takht Patna Sahib is in Bihar, while Badal headed the party in Punjab. They have no authority to summon him. However, in case of a local issue in the jurisdiction of Bihar, the Takht Patna Sahib can take action,” he said.

‘The fact,’ he said, is that what has been happening is ‘exactly what the BJP wants’. “They want Sikh institutions to become weak and break apart. Sukhbir Badal also went against the hukamnama [edict] of the Akal Takht issued on December 2, 2024”, he added, referring to the SAD's delay in accepting Badal's resignation as party president. Badal has since returned to the post.

Not against Akal Takht but the appointment of its chiefs: Takht Patna Sahib spokesperson

Speaking to The Wire, Harpal Singh Johal, spokesperson of the Takht Patna Sahib's management committee and who was also declared tankhaiya by the Akal Takht Sahib on Saturday, said that they were not against the Akal Takht Sahib but the system under which its jathedars were appointed.

Johal clarified that their discord was over Gargaj's appointment. “He is a good kathavachak [Sikh storyteller], but the way he was appointed, it is not acceptable to the Sikh panth,” he added.

He reiterated that while the Akal Takht Sahib was supreme, the Takht Patna Sahib was the apex takht for the people of eastern India.

When asked if the Takht Patna Sahib had the authority to summon Badal, who was already punished by the Akal Takht Sahib, Johal said, “Everybody knows how the SAD leadership appeared before the Akal Takht Sahib. They removed those jathedars who punished them. The SAD leadership controlled every decision of the Akal Takht and the SGPC to maintain its dominance.”

On Badal’s allegations of the BJP and RSS trying to control Sikh institutions, Johal in turn asked, “For the last 35 years, they [the SAD] were appeasing the BJP and kept the RSS above everything else. Now, suddenly the BJP has become bad?”

Further, speaking about the observation of Sikh scholars that the ongoing crisis between the two takhts was because of the BJP’s influence over the Takht Patna Sahib, Johal said, “We are not opponents of the BJP. We are against the Congress. Nobody is with the SAD leadership, even the veterans have left them.”

SGPC says conspiracy on against Akal Takht; claims ‘Sikhs’ and ‘Punjab’ under attack

Responding to The Wire's queries, SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal alleged that sinister attempts were being made to weaken and defame the Akal Takht Sahib and Sikh institutions, which he said is highly unfortunate.

“Whether it is the handiwork of BJP or the Congress, these are dangerous tendencies. Deliberate issues were raked up to embroil the Sikh clergy in disputes and challenge the supremacy of the Akal Takht Sahib. The Akal Takht Sahib is the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs and every Sikh bows before its decrees,” he said.

On the allegations of the Takht Patna Sahib chief that Gargaj was conspiring against it, Grewal said that this was an old issue on which many letters were already exchanged between both takhts' clergies.

“Kuldeep Singh Gargaj did not take any decision on his own. A committee conducted an inquiry against Baldev Singh and Gurdial Singh from the Takht Patna Sahib after it was found that the duo was not able to recite the Gurbani. On May 21, 2025, the Akal Takht in its letter directed both to appear before them and put a ban on their panthic sewa. However, in retaliation, the Takht Patna Sahib started targeting the Akal Takht head,” he said.

Asserting that a conspiracy was being hatched to challenge the supremacy of the Akal Takht Sahib through this controversy, Grewal said that those who are doing it are mistaken and setting a wrong precedent at a time when Sikh institutions were already under attack.

Without naming anybody, Grewal said that these developments are ‘politically influenced’. “There is no issue of Kuldeep Singh Gargaj’s appointment. We tried to avoid any confrontation on this issue, but some factions started protesting,” he said.

He emphasised that the Sikhs and Punjab were this conspiracy's main targets.

“Such conspiracies can be damaging for the country. It is our responsibility in the SGPC to take the entire Sikh panth along. Those at the helm of affairs, whether the Punjab chief minister or the Union government, should not hatch conspiracies against the Sikhs and Punjab,” he added.

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