Removal of jathedars: SAD turns heat on Ayali for ‘colluding’ with AAP

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday turned the heat on its Dakha MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali for his statements in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha regarding the removal of three jathedars by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

Senior leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal on Saturday demanded that Ayali should make full disclosure of his meetings with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and minister Harjot Singh Bains, before making a concerted effort to hand over the power for making rules for the appointment of the jathedar of the Akal Takht to the AAP government.

“Ayali colluded with AAP minister Bains to initiate a discussion in the assembly on making rules for appointment of the jathedar of the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs. This has hurt the religious sentiments of the community. Ayali thinks that the vidhan sabha is above the sacred Takht and has the authority to subjugate it,” Grewal said.

Ayali, who is elected MLA from Dakha, is one of the three SAD MLAs in the 117-member Punjab assembly. The other MLAs are Ganieve Kaur Majithia and Dr Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi. Sukhi joined Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in August last year.

On Friday, the party’s vice-president Daljit Singh Cheema also slammed the statements made in the vidhan sabha. “The assembly has no jurisdiction over Akal Takht and SGPC,” Cheema said, asking speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan to expunge the statements from the vidhan sabha records.

Demanding an apology from Ayali, Grewal asked the other leaders of the erstwhile ‘sudhar lehar’ to state whether they supported Ayali’s stand or not.

“The sudhar lehar leaders have claimed that they hold Akal Takht in the highest esteem but have not reacted to the insult meted out to the institution by Ayali. They must make their stand clear or else it will be surmised they are in league with Ayali and AAP government in eroding the authority of the Takht,” he added.

Grewal also asked the Sudhar Lehar leaders not to indulge in sham exercises, referring to the membership drive.

“On one hand these leaders claim that they are holding a membership drive on behalf of Akal Takht but on the other hand they are joining forces with the AAP government to make the Takht subservient to the state vidhan sabha and the AAP government,” he said.

“The community and its representative body – the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is competent to make rules and regulations for the appointment of the jathedar of Akal Takht and any outside interference is unwarranted and not acceptable”, Grewal added.