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This startling revelation was made by the Damdami Taksal spokesman, which was headed by Sant Bhinderanwale, while addressing a Sikh conclave, here.
Giving details, Mohkam Singh said after the death of Jathedar Gurdial Singh Ajnoha, a congregation attended by prominent scholars, retired civil as well as army officers at langar hall within the Darbar Sahib complex, passed a resolution proposing the name of Sant Bhinderanwale for the post in 1983, a year before the Operation Bluestar.
He said within no time the Delhi rulers, through Akali leadership, got active and “engineered” the appointment of Gaini Kirpal Singh for the top seat. His views were also corroborated by Kulwant Singh, a leader of the All-India Sikh Students Federation. Sikh scholars expressed concern that the merit had been ignored while appointing the jathedars since 1983, which allegedly denigrated the institution of Akal Takht.
Sikh scholars, legal brains and heads of Sikh socio-religious organisations unanimously passed a resolution reiterating that Akal Takht was supreme and its supremacy and sovereignty could not be challenged, compromised and questioned as was being done by certain vested interests.
At the same time, they expressed their desire to free jathedars of all five Takhts from all political and legal bindings.
The occasion was a seminar organised by the Dal Khalsa to discuss the role, working sphere, status and appointments of the Takht jathedars. The speakers said the incumbents used and misused the authority vested in them. The political leadership manoeuvred the religious heads calling them head priests and employees of the SGPC.
They observed that the concepts of “sandesh, gurmata and hukamnama” have become hazed over the years because of the manner in which edicts had been handed over in recent years - from the blatant interventionist to the utterly ridiculous and the politically motivated. Delivering the keynote address, party president Satnam Singh said the seminar was the first in the series of six seminars proposed to be held over the next year to go into the entire gamut of issues relating to the institution of Akal Takht and its jathedar.
One of the resolutions read by H.S. Dhami stated that the institution of Akal Takht is a highest temporal authority of the Sikh nation and the devout Sikhs, irrespective of political leanings, revere the institution. The gathering passed another resolution empowering the organisers to constitute a drafting committee of Sikh scholars, experts and thinkers to fix norms for the post of the jathedar of the Takhts.