‘Clean Toilets & Shoes, Serve Langar’: Why Has Akali Dal Chief Sukhbir Singh Badal Been Punished?

Amritsar: Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of Sikhs, has imposed penalties on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders for some of their actions when the party was in power in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.

The former Punjab deputy CM has been sentenced to cleaning duty in the kitchen and bathrooms of several Gurdwaras, including the Golden Temple, for favouring Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the 2015 sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.

Sukhbir’s father, the late Parkash Singh Badal who was the former Punjab CM, has been stripped of the Fakhr-e-Qaum (pride of Sikh community) honour, bestowed on him in 2011 for services to the community.

Sukhbir, who is currently wheelchair-bound, and the core committee members and leaders of Akali Dal who were cabinet members in 2015, will clean bathrooms at Golden Temple on December 3 from 12 noon to 1 pm. They will then take a bath and serve langar.

The SAD working committee has also been directed to accept Sukhbir’s resignation as party chief.

Five high priests, headed by Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh, pronounced the punishment after Sukhbir tendered an unconditional apology to the Akal Takht admitting his mistakes.

Akal Takht had declared Sukhbir a ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty of religious misconduct) in August.

Among allegations against him was granting pardon to Ram Rahim Singh in a 2007 blasphemy case, endorsing police actions leading to Sikh protester deaths, and public support for Ram Rahim’s apology.

Sukhbir acknowledged his mistakes in public, before the Sikh clergy. He was ordered to perform sewa (voluntary service) at Golden Temple — cleaning utensils and devotees’ shoes for an hour daily for two days. Despite being handicapped by a recent injury which needed him to use a wheelchair, Sukhbir accepted the ruling and appeared in traditional attire of a sewadar.