By Asia Samachar | Panjab |
The Akal Takht has lifted a controversial ban on Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale over allegations of misinterpreting the Gurbani.
In August 2020, then Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh announced a decision against Ranjit after receiving a sub-committee report from the sub-committee formed a year earlier.
The move had sparked widespread debate on banning and excommunication as tools within the Sikh faith. The Akal Takht had occasionally excommunicated Sikh public figures, including preachers, politicians and former jathedars, though it did not push that button with Ranjit.
In his defence back then, Dhadrianwale alleged that the Amritsar-based Sikh authority had sided with the taksals, a reference to some of the influential Sikh missionary groups, when deciding that he had erred in his his Sikh preaching.
The lifting of the ban against Dhadrianwale comes at a time when his archrival Damdami Taksal head Harnam Singh Dhuma has turned against the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), reported Indian Express.
Dhuma wants the SGPC to remove Akal Takht Sahib’s acting Jathedar, Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, who was instrumental in making Dhadrianwale appear before the Akal Takht Sahib seeking forgiveness, it said.
Asia Samachar ran an editorial on the issue in 2020. See here.
RELATED STORY:
Excommunication and Sikhism: The case of Bhai Ranjit Singh Dhadriawala (Asia Samachar, 4 Sept 2020)
Dhadrianwale slams Akal Takht acting jathedar (Asia Samachar, 27 Aug 2020)
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