AMRITSAR: Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj on Monday declared Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann as “anti-Panth” (opposed to the Sikh community) and “anti-Guru”.The Sikh clergy also summoned all Sikh MLAs, irrespective of party affiliation, and the Punjab Cabinet to appear before the Akal Takht on June 29 in connection with an anti-sacrilege law.Gargaj pronounced the edict from the ‘faseel’ (podium of the Akal Takht) after the ‘five Singh Sahiban’ (Sikh clergy) held a meeting in Amritsar.Gargajj claimed that the video circulating on social media — purportedly showing a man resembling Bhagwant Mann — was found to be “authentic” by two forensic laboratories.He further said the video was neither tampered with nor AI-generated.He further said that the Akal Takht secretariat had written to the chief minister in January after Mann stated that he was open to a forensic examination of the video, but did not receive any response.Thereafter, he added, the Akal Takht secretariat got the video examined by two laboratories.“A position of chief minister is respectable. But chief minister Bhagwant Singh (Mann) lied at the Akal Takht (about the video),” claimed Gargajj.The matter stems from the summoning of Mann by the Akal Takht in January this year for allegedly making comments on ‘Guru ki Golak’ (a gurdwara donation box) and indulging in “objectionable activities” with the pictures of the “Sikh Gurus” and slain militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in some video clips.Mann appeared before the secretariat in Amritsar on January 15 and stated that the videos circulating on social media were fake.He also said the video was fabricated or AI-generated and added that the ‘Singh Sahiban’ could have it forensically examined at any lab in the country.(With agency inputs)
