Badal Serves Out Punishment At Golden Temple

India-West News Desk
AMRITSAR – Former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab and Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal has begun serving the religious punishment imposed by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of Sikhs, for his role in a sacrilege case. Found guilty of religious misconduct, Badal was declared a “tankhaiya” in August for “mistakes committed by the party during its tenure in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.” He admitted his errors and offered an unconditional apology.
Sitting in a wheelchair at the entrance of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Badal wore a plaque around his neck and held a spear as a visible sign of his penance. Alongside him, senior Akali Dal leader and brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia began his sentence by washing utensils at the Golden Temple.
As part of their penance, Sukhbir Badal and other Akali Dal leaders, including members of the party’s 2015 cabinet, have been tasked with cleaning bathrooms at the Golden Temple for an hour each day, followed by bathing and serving langar. Badal has also been assigned duties as a “sewadar,” including cleaning kitchens and toilets at multiple gurdwaras, as part of his punishment for allegedly favoring Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim during the 2015 sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib.
The Akal Takht also posthumously stripped Sukhbir Badal’s father, former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, of the Fakhr-e-Qaum (Pride of the Sikh Community) honor. The title had been conferred on him in 2011 for his services to the Sikh community.