NEW DELHI: For the first time in Sikh history, an Akali leader has defied the “tankan” (religious punishment) the Akal Takht had handed out to him for readmitting him into the panth (fold),
Akali Dal (Master Tara Singh president Rachhpal Singh who was undergoing the “tankhah at Sisgani) gurdwara here, on May. 30 decided to give it up in protest against what he called “discriminatory treatment” by the acting jathedar of the Akal Takht the highest spiritual and temporal seat of the Sikhs.
The Akali leader, who washed utensils and dusted shoes for five-days as part of his “ankhan,” alleged that acting jathedar Manjit Singh had made him read out a “ready-made” statement “accepting his past sins.” He, however, admitted that the main reason for his defiance of the Takhit verdict was the directive that he disbands his Akali action.
Rachhpal Singh said: “I do no agree with what the jathedar forced me 10 say when he was reading the statement at the Akal Takht, Amritsar.”
Article extracted from this publication >> June 3, 1994
