It began, ironically, with a song. Punjabi singer Jasbir Jassi recited a kavita and kirtan at a religious event, blending folk idiom with Gurbani. The response from the religious establishment was swift and unforgiving: the Acting Jathedar of Akal Takht, who was anointed as Jathedar in middle of the night, ruled that a patit Sikh cannot sing Gurbani from a sacred stage.
I have always liked this by Anoop Jalota
Many more have recited their love for the Gurus, out of which “Miter Piyare nu” by Nusrat Ali khan is my favourite
Who can forget Bhai Lal Singh
Bhai Naeem Tahir Lal and Bhai Muhammad Hussain Lal the decedents of Bhai Mardana have several Gurbani recitals
The diktat reopened an old but unresolved questions: who gets to speak to the Guru and who decides? Do we need middle men to talk to our Guru? Can maryada be in divergence to the basic ethos of Sikh gurus, Shri Guru Granth Sahib?
Who defines a Sikh? A cleric or the Constitution and the SGPC Act?
Who defines a patit, a sehajdhari Sikh and a Khalsa?
What is Bhagwant Mann; a Sehajdhari Sikh or a Patit?
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asked what many Sikhs quietly ask but rarely dare openly. If patit Sikhs or even non-Sikhs are unfit to recite Gurbani, why are their donations to the Golak welcomed without hesitation? The question was not flippant, nor anti-Sikh. It exposed a selective moral rigidity one that polices participation but sanctifies money.
Guru Nanak taught us to question, because he himself questioned.
This discomforting honesty has unsettled the custodians of authority who feel that their kingdom is being questioned. What followed summons, outrage, and moral posturing reveals something far deeper than a dispute over decorum. It exposes a growing rigidity and fundamentalism creeping into the Sikh Panth, often justified in the name of maryada but increasingly divorced from Guru Nanak’s ethos of humility, inclusion, and fearless questioning.
Recent events underline this drift. At Fatehgarh Sahib, young Nihangs were seen forcibly removing caps from visitors and parading them on spears like trophies. Jathedar himself, wearing a huge warm overcoat, was seen in a reel removing a cap from head of a small child who was wearing a patka beneath in the chilling cold. This was not spiritual discipline; it was intimidation and rigidity combine. Sikhism was never meant to be enforced through fear or spectacle.
When clerical symbolism overpower substance, faith mutates into control.
Now, the summons to Mann on January 15 stemming from his Golak remarks and an alleged video accused of disrespecting Sikh icons like Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale originating from one Canada-based Jagmanpreet Samra, who shared a purported deepfake obscene video of Mann, claiming “This is just the trailer” and offering rewards to prove it fake, further stoking political tensions through what authorities call a smear campaign. Samra had earlier used this method to smear Narendra Singh Tomars’ son. Jathedar has announced that they will get the authenticity of the video checked. If the video is found authentic and the contents correct, then it will be a setback to Bhagwant Mann.
Mann has agreed to appear barefoot, as a humble Sikh, even if President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to visit Amritsar on same day. This is respect. This is maryada. But respect for the Akal Takht must not be confused with submission to the political machinery operating behind it.
It is an open secret that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, firmly controlled by a family and the Shiromani Akali Dal, decides who becomes Jathedar and who is to be removed. The past appointments and removals show how much the highest temporal seat has been demeaned by the political party. Religious authority and political interest have been dangerously fused. And many experts believe the real trigger behind the present confrontation is not Mann’s words but the reopening of the explosive issue of the 328 missing saroops of the Guru Granth Sahib and the subsequent arrests of Kohli and another. Now the Akal Takht has ordered SGPC not to cooperate in the police investigation.
That scandal, festering for years under SGPC’s watch, has finally begun to move. FIRs have been registered, arrests made, and forensic trails opened. Former SGPC officials are under scrutiny. For the first time, accountability appears possible and that has rattled entrenched interests. The timing of the summons, coming soon after these developments, looks less like spiritual correction and more like political strategic diversion.
This is where the line must be drawn.
When maryada is invoked to shield institutions from scrutiny, religion is hollowed out. When the Takht is used directly or indirectly to settle political scores or protect a family-controlled religious empire, the sufferer is the Panth, the core pillar of Sikhism, the preaching’s of the Guru. History offers enough warnings. Societies where religious edicts overpower constitutional authority slide not into piety, but into fear and conformity.
Sikhism was born in resistance: to ritualism, hierarchy, and clerical monopoly. Questioning authority is not betrayal; it is tradition and preachings of our Gurus.
Basically, Bhagwant Mann questioned the growing rigidity and fundamentalism within the Sikh Panth and that questioning is the need of the hour. A larger section of Sikhs want these questions to be asked openly. On the answering side stands a family-dominated, politically controlled SGPC, marked by opacity and allegations of corruption, shaping Sikh institutions to suit narrow political interests and preserve its own kingdom. Resentment against this model is no longer fringe; it is widespread among public, Sikh thinkers, scholars, and preachers.
Mann, go ahead, bow to the Akal Takht with humility and clarity. But do not bow to the Akali Dal or to a closed, exclusionary interpretation of Sikhism. Reforming the SGPC, restoring transparency, recovering the missing saroops, and reclaiming Sikh institutions for the Panth not for political families is the real test of maryada today.
In the end, do Punjabis deserve to know the truth behind the missing 328 saroops?
Mann Has Chosen to Bow Before the Akal Takht; But Must Not Bow Before the Akali Dal