On normal days, the shrine is typically filled with long queues of devotees. However, on Wednesday and Thursday, the premises appeared noticeably empty with no crowd congestion at the shrine
This mandate of ‘no-entry’ and ‘no-fire’ towards the sanctum sanctorum applied equally to us. We had two options – to continue the siege in the hope to wear out those inside Golden Temple, or withdraw the caveat and permit NSG to proceed. In this precarious situation, then SSP SS Virk and I took a risk.
He was first elected as the party president in 2008 and at 45, was the youngest person to occupy the post. Sukhbir, the son of late party patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, was the only candidate for the post of party president.
Sukhbir had resigned from the post on November 16 last year after being declared a tankhaiya (guilty of religious misconduct) by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, for the mistakes of the party and its government from 2007 to 2017.