Several Sikh bodies that had been opposing Giani Kuldip Singh Gargaj’s appointment as the officiating Jathedar of the Akal Takht tied a ceremonial turban to him at a special programme here on Saturday, accepting him as a temporal head.
The event was organised at the Takht Kesgarh Sahib by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) — the apex gurdwara body that has powers to appoint and remove temporal heads. The event coincided with the beginning of a month-long series of events being held by the state government and the SGPC to commemorate the 350th death anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur.
This comes days after Gargaj delivered an uninterrupted address to the Sikh Community from rostrum of the Akal Takht in Amritsar on Bandi Chhor Diwas.
Earlier, Nihang groups and several other hardliner Sikh organisations had forced Gargaj to refrain from delivering the annual address to the Sikhs on the Operation Bluestar anniversary on June 6.