Akal Takht vs Punjab Government: Akal Takht Rebukes Bhagwant Mann Government Over Sacrilege Law, Seeks Amendments

Akal Takht Sahib, the highest temporal authority of the Sikh community, has openly expressed its displeasure with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his government over issues related to Sikh religious affairs. The dispute centres on two major concerns. First, Akal Takht continues to object to an alleged video showing disrespect towards Sikh Gurus, claiming the individual in the clip is Bhagwant Mann, although the Chief Minister has repeatedly dismissed the video as fake and AI-generated. Second, Akal Takht has strongly opposed the Punjab government’s anti-sacrilege amendment law, summoning Sikh MLAs from both the ruling and opposition parties to discuss the legislation while excluding Mann from the meeting. The religious body has given the government one month to amend the law and advised that it should not be implemented until the required changes are made. Akal Takht has objected to the terminology used in the legislation, the definition of custodianship, and provisions related to assigning unique identification numbers to copies of Guru Granth Sahib, arguing such matters fall exclusively under Sikh religious institutions.

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