Chandigarh: Damdami Taksal Amritsar, the Sikh seminary that groomed militant Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and was known as the nerve centre of extremism in Punjab, has announced its support to the BJP-led Mahayuti for the Maharashtra assembly elections.
In Mumbai on Monday, the taksal head, Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma, read out a message of support for the BJP at a press meet organised by Sikh Samaj Maharashtra, a representative body of the Sikhs in Maharashtra.
“Over the last 2.5 years, the Mahayuti government has announced various schemes and implemented several policies for the welfare of the Sikh community,” explained Dhumma in a press statement issued later on Monday.
Monday was the last day of campaigning in Maharashtra, with all 288 assembly constituencies set to vote on Wednesday.
The taksal is a 300-year-old Sikh seminary headquartered at Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash at Chowk Mehta, nearly 40 km from Amritsar. It is engaged in imparting religious education and training to Sikh youth in the purest form of Sikhism—proper reading of the texts, martial arts, and the traditions of katha (preaching).
Bhindranwale became its 14th head in 1977, and the taksal emerged as an epicentre of militancy. Even after Bhindranwale shifted his base from the taksal to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the taksal remained the breeding ground for militants. During Operation Blue Star in 1984, when the Indian Army entered the Golden Temple to flush out militants, the majority of the 219 people killed with Bhindranwale were taksal activists. For decades since, the taksal has regularly been organising an annual ‘Shahidi Samagam’ in memory of the militants killed during the years of extremism in Punjab.
Dhumma took over as the head of the taksal in 2005 and has been considered close to the moderate Shiromani Akali Dal—a fact often criticised by radicals.
The taksal’s move to support the BJP in Maharashtra invited criticism from the Akali Dal on Tuesday. Senior Akali leader Parambans Singh Bunty Romana said that it was another sign of the BJP penetrating Sikh institutions.
“Damdami Taksal Mukhi Baba Harnam Singh Dhuma extends support to BJP in Maharashtra!! Just look at the level to which BJP has penetrated Sikh institutions!! WHAT A FALL!!” the Akali leader tweeted on X.
Talking to media persons in Chandigarh, Akali leader Arshdeep Singh Kler termed Dhumma’s support to the BJP as shocking.
“The taksal is the keeper of the legacy of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was given the title of a ‘shaheed’ or martyr by the Sikh community. Does the BJP accept that he was a ‘shaheed’?“ asked Kler. “Also, what about the recent controversy involving the release of a film on Indira Gandhi by Kangana Ranaut? That film projected Sant ji uncharitably and, despite our objections, the BJP government gave a go-ahead for its release.”
‘BJP has infiltrated Sikh institutions’
“The BJP has managed to infiltrate Sikh institutions, and this is extremely dangerous for the Sikh community,” said Kler, adding that it would be advisable that Dhumma tell the Sikh community if he has supported the BJP as the head of the taksal or in his personal capacity.
In 2018, the taksal was instrumental in setting up a Gurudwara dedicated to Bhindranwale’s “martyrdom” at his ancestral village Rode in Baghapurana, Moga. The taksal and Bhindranwale’s nephew Jasbir Singh Rode built a large structure at Bhindranwale’s birthplace.
In 2013, when the Akalis were in power in Punjab in an alliance with the BJP, the takshal became the force behind the construction of a “martyr’s memorial” in the Golden Temple complex in memory of Bhindranwale, as well as the others killed in Operation Blue Star.
At the memorial, it also got a picture of Bhindranwale installed—which was removed following objections from the BJP. On a request from the taksal, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) reinstalled the picture in June 2017.
When contacted, BJP spokesperson Sarchand Singh, who served for several years as a spokesperson of the taksal, told ThePrint Tuesday that the decision taken by the taksal to support the BJP was welcome.
“The Sikh bodies tasked with working for the Sikh religion and carrying forward its traditions or becoming its representative voice have failed. The Akali Dal, for instance, has not been able to stand up for the Sikh community adequately,” Sarchand said. “If the Taksal has decided to choose the BJP to stand up for the rights of the Sikhs, the Akali should not have a problem with it.”
“It defies logic that the Akali have an objection to the taksal supporting the BJP while, as a political party, the Akalis have been in power in the state with the BJP for 30 years. They are the ones who have been supporting the BJP for years,” added Sarchand.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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