Akal Takht declares Punjab CM Mann Guru Dokhi

In what could be a major emotive issue ahead of the Assembly elections, the Sikh clergy at the Akal Takht on Monday declared Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Guru Dokhi (anti-Guru) and Khalsa Panth virodhi (anti-community), as he was accused of lying regarding a purported objectionable video.

The Akal Takht is the highest temporal seat of Sikhs. Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj pronounced the edict from the podium of the Akal Takht after the five Singh Sahiban (Sikh high priests) held a meeting in Amritsar. Gargajj claimed that the video circulating on social media — purportedly showing a man resembling Bhagwant Mann — was found to be “authentic” by two forensic laboratories. The video was neither tinkered nor AI-generated, Gargajj said.

He further said the Akal Takht secretariat had written to the CM in January after Mann announced that he was open to a forensic examination of the video; however, they did not receive any response. Thereafter, the Akal Takht secretariat got the video examined from two labs, he said.

“A position of chief minister is respectable. But chief minister Bhagwant Singh (Mann) lied at the Akal Takht (about the video),” claimed Gargajj.

The matter stems from the summoning of Mann by the Akal Takht in January this year for video clips where he is allegedly making comments on Guru ki Golak (a gurdwara donation box) and indulging in “objectionable activities” with the pictures of the Sikh Gurus and slain militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Mann appeared before the secretariat in Amritsar on January 15 and submitted that the videos circulating on social media were fake.

He also said that the video was fake or AI-generated and that the Singh Sahiban could get its forensic examination done from any lab in the country.

The Sikh clergy has also summoned all Sikh MLAs, regardless of party affiliation, and the Punjab Cabinet before the Akal Takht on June 29 in connection with an anti-sacrilege law. The Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had earlier raised objections to the anti-sacrilege law, saying it was enacted without consulting the Sikh Panth.

The Akal Takht had earlier asked the State Government to remove provisions from the anti-sacrilege Act which are “against the Guru Granth Sahib, the Khalsa Panth and the sentiments of the Sangat (Sikh community).” Notably, the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was unanimously passed by the Punjab Assembly on April 13. It includes a provision for stricter punishment, including life imprisonment for any act of sacrilege against the Guru Granth Sahib.

Reacting to the development, AAP Punjab media in-charge Baltej Singh Pannu on Monday said that after losing the trust of the people and facing repeated electoral defeats, the Badal family and Shiromani Akali Dal have dragged revered Sikh institutions into their political battle in a desperate bid to regain relevance. He asserted that the so-called forensic report being used to target CM Bhagwant Mann has failed to establish even the identity of the person seen in the video, exposing what he described as another failed attempt by Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia to defame the Chief Minister.

Pannu said the same Badal family under whose rule Punjab witnessed beadbi incidents, Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan tragedies is now trying to claim moral authority, while remaining unable to digest the fact that the Bhagwant Mann Government has enacted Punjab’s toughest law against beadbi and delivered transformative governance through initiatives ranging from increased canal water reach and daytime power for farmers to ?10 lakh health insurance for families.

Addressing a press conference, Pannu said Sri Akal Takht Sahib is the supreme and most revered institution of Sikhs across the world and cannot be treated as the personal estate of Sukhbir Badal or the SAD. “Sri Akal Takht Sahib belongs to the entire Panth across the world, not to Sukhbir Singh Badal or the Shiromani Akali Dal. The Jathedar Sahib was appointed in the middle of the night at the behest of Sukhbir Badal without consulting Sikh sects or organisations, and at a place where there was not even Parkash of Sri Guru Granth Sahib,” he said.

Pannu asserted, “Under such circumstances, his loyalty towards the Badal family and the statement of SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami describing himself as a soldier of Sukhbir Badal are proof of the politicisation of these revered Sikh institutions.”

Questioning the forensic report released in connection with the controversial video, Pannu said, “The report nowhere states who the person visible in the video actually is. Even if we accept the claim that the video was not generated through AI, the Jathedar must explain what the height of the individual seen in the video is. Does the height of CM Bhagwant Singh Mann match the height of the person visible in the footage? Which hotel room is it where photographs of Guru Sahib are displayed, as is being claimed? The report has completely failed to establish who is actually visible in the video.”