Uphill task ahead for new Takht jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj

It will be a tightrope walk for Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj (40), who was installed as jathedar of Takht Shri Keshgarh Sahib and also assumed charge as acting Akal Takht jathedar replacing Giani Raghbir Singh, to navigate the present Sikh politico-religious turmoil and find a way out to bring all the ‘warring’ factions on one platform.

It has been a meteoric rise for Giani Gargaj, who started as a parcharak with the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) in 2009 to work in Punjab soon after having completed a diploma course in religious studies from Sikh Missionary College in Anandpur Sahib.

Paramjit Singh Sarna and his younger brother Harvinder Singh Sarna, who were at the helm of DSGMC were opposed to the Badals, and as parcharak Giani Gargaj was critical of the working of the SAD-BJP government.

Reportedly, Giani Gargaj, who is politically aware, aggressive and vocal, has been recommended by the Sarnas and is expected to pull the Shiromani Gurdwara Paarbandhak Committee (SGPC) of the present crisis.

“He is intelligent, knows Sikh ethos and has a panthic bent of mind,” Sarna said. A student of Giani Surinder Singh, who later remained vice-president of the SGPC, Giani Gargaj was involved in a strike at the missionary college in early 2000 over some issues with the college management.

Proving his independence, wooing critics

Gargaj, who hails from Jabbowal village in Amritsar, the first challenge will be to prove himself as independent of its appointing body SGPC. His appointment has been made when two jathedars – Giani Raghbir Singh of Akal Takht and Giani Sultan Singh of Takht Shri Keshgarh Sahib have been removed abruptly.

Along with former jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib Giani Harpreet Singh, the trio who were part of the Sikh clergy that pronounced the December 2 “hukamnama” (Sikh decree) last year for the exit of Sukhbir Singh Badal as president of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), have been removed from their posts.

The decree had further revoked the “Panth Rattan Fakhr-e-Qaum” (pride of the Sikh community) title conferred on party patriarch and five-time Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

His task is cut out —to pull SGPC out of the recent turmoil given Harjinder Singh Dhami’s resignation as the gurdwara body chief on February 17 and find a way out to deal with SAD, which has been reluctant to follow the December 2 decree, without any major fallouts, all the while maintaining the supremacy of the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs.

His immediate challenge seems to be to navigate the nihang’s protest against him during ‘Holla Mohalla’.

He is supposed to deliver a key address at Takht Shri Keshgarh Sahib on the occasion of Holla-Mohalla with nihang sampardays already opposed to him and are already camping at Anandpur Sahib.

Former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur said she is not opposed to anyone in person but the way he was appointed after unceremoniously removing his predecessor.

“Missionary college is a seminary of religious teachings, which, propagates the ideology and rehat maryada as per Sikh tenets approved by Akal Takht. Ideologically he, as a missionary college student, may not be on the same page with Sikh sampardays and Damdami Taksal,” Kaur, said, adding that a group of SGPC members was planning to move a resolution in the gurdwara body opposing the way jathedars are removed.

Giani Gargaj had performed the sewa as a kathavachak in a Gurdwara Sahib, Sector 71 in Mohali in 2013 and was also actively involved with Bhai Gurbux Singh, who was on a hunger strike seeking the release of Sikh prisoners.

During those days, he completed degree his MA in history and also opened an orphanage in Mohali.

SGPC member Kiranjot Kaur said with his installation Sikh traditions have been ignored.

“A Takht jathedar should have the approval of the entire panth and can’t be appointed in a hush-hush manner. It is not the person who is important, but the Sikh traditions are sidhant (principles), which have been trampled,” she added.