Sukhbir Badal on Thursday completed his 10-day religious punishment. |
Chandigarh: Senior Akali leader and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal on Thursday completed his 10-day religious punishment by performing “sewa’’ for the second consecutive day at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Punjab’s Muktsar town.
Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs, had declared Sukhbir and several other Akali leaders “tankhaiya’’ (guilty of religious misconduct) and pronounced different “tankhah’’ (religious punishments) for them on December 2, last.
Sukhbir, who has a fractured leg, hence on a wheelchair, subsequently underwent the said “tankhah” by performing the duty of guard and also washing utensils at different gurdwaras in Punjab. He would perform “ardas’’ (prayers) at the Akal Takht on Friday.
On began his duties on December 3 when he did the “sewa’’ as a security guard at the entrance of Golden Temple, Amritsar, while wearing a blue robe, a plaque of Gurbani verses around his neck and holding a spear in his hand.
It may be recalled that he had narrowly escaped an assassination bid on December 4, the second day of his religious punishment, at the Golden Temple. However, alert security personnel, who were in civilian clothes nabbed the accused, identified as Narain Singh Chaura, a former militant, within moments.
Though Chaura opened fire from his pistol, the shot hit a wall of the gurdwara as the security personnel had overpowered him before he could aim at Sukhbir. Chaura, who was arrested has been sent to police remand.
Besides Golden Temple, Sukhbir also performed “sewa’’ at Takht Kesgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib, Fetehgarh Sahib and Takht Damdama Sahib for two days each.
It may be recalled that Akal Takht had pronounced the religious punishments to Akali leaders on December 2, last, for mistakes made by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) during its rule in Punjab from 2007 to 2017 for the “mistakes’’ committed by SAD government from 2007 to 2017 and its failure to address key issues of the Sikh community, when Sukhbir was the party leader and deputy chief minister and SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, the chief minister.
The “mistakes’’ mentioned above included – revocation of the blasphemy case against Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for imitating Guru Gobind Singh in 2007, the failure to punish perpetrators of the Bargari sacrilege and police officials for the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing incidents, appointment of controversial IPS officer Sumedh Saini as Punjab DGP besides giving Farzana Alam, the wife of controversial police officer Izhar Alam, the party ticket in the 2012 assembly polls and failing to deliver justice to victims in fake encounter cases.
