5 min readAmritsarMar 1, 2026 01:59 PM IST First published on: Mar 1, 2026 at 01:59 PM ISTThe forcible retirement of Giani Raghbir Singh by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) as head granthi of Harmandar Sahib has deepened the crisis confronting both the apex body managing Sikh shrines and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Coming just days after Raghbir Singh publicly accused the SGPC of systemic corruption, the move appears less an act of institutional discipline and more a political message.Raghbir Singh had earlier served as Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikh authority. In December 2024, he pronounced religious punishment against SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal for misconduct. Along with the then Takht Kesgarh Sahib Jathedar, Sultan Singh, and Takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar, Giani Harpreet Singh, he also forced Badal to step down as the president of the Akali Dal.AdvertisementThe political consequences were swift. The SAD holds a majority in the SGPC house and the party leadership is seen to exercise decisive influence over the body’s functioning.Jathedar-Badal tussleWithin three months of their decision against Badal, all three Jathedars stand removed from their posts. Harpreet Singh was sacked in February 2025. Raghbir Singh and Sultan Singh, however, continued to serve as priests under the SGPC. Sultan Singh was transferred from the Harmandar Sahib, a move widely viewed as punitive. Raghbir Singh, despite simmering tensions, continued as head granthi but has now been removed.Raghbir Singh had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging denial of service benefits, though he later withdrew the petition in July. For a time, the tensions appeared to ease. Raghbir Singh publicly praised Sukhbir Badal’s “volunteer service” during the Punjab floods and an uneasy truce seemed to prevail.AdvertisementThat calm ended in February, when Raghbir Singh addressed a press conference in Jalandhar and read out a detailed statement accusing the SGPC of entrenched corruption. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was quick to seize on the charges. Within days came the SGPC move to retire him.His removal did not occur in isolation. The SGPC has been grappling with multiple controversies, each adding to the perception of institutional drift. Last month, former Akal Takht Jathedar Ranjit Singh alleged land fraud at Gurdwara Aamb Sahib in Mohali. The SGPC filed a police complaint against its own manager, and its senior secretary came under scrutiny. Harpreet Singh, now leading a breakaway Akali Dal faction, has levelled fresh allegations regarding land transactions at other SGPC-controlled gurdwaras. When threatened with defamation, he publicly dared the SGPC to proceed with it.Even SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami inadvertently lent weight to critics. At a recent press conference, he remarked that “10 to 20 frauds” used to occur daily within the organisation, a comment his opponents portrayed as a confession, and now presumably don’t. Though he later apologised in connection with the Gurdwara Aamb Sahib case, the effects of the remark have lingered.Hovering over these disputes is the investigation into 328 missing Birs of the Guru Granth Sahib, a matter of profound religious sensitivity, as each Bir is considered a sacred, handwritten or printed volume of Sikhism’s holy scripture. Registered as a police case in December 2025, the probe has drawn in Sukhbir Badal, who has met Punjab’s Director General of Police alleging attempts to falsely implicate him.The summoning of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to the Akal Takht in January 2025 was widely interpreted as the SGPC’s pushback against the FIR and the AAP government’s assertiveness.SGPC pollsWhat further complicates the SGPC’s position is its democratic deficit. No elections have been held for over 15 years; the last were conducted in 2011, though each elected house has a five-year term. Of the 185 members last elected, around 35 have since died. The SAD won the 2011 SGPC polls and the 2012 Punjab Assembly elections decisively, but has since lost two Assembly elections and three parliamentary contests. It continues to control the SGPC by default rather than by a renewed mandate.you may likeAgainst this backdrop, the removal of the Jathedars and legal threats against Harpreet Singh have intensified allegations that the SGPC’s decisions are politically calibrated in view of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections. Dhami himself has described himself as “a soldier of Shiromani Akali Dal Badal headed by Sukhbir Singh Badal” — a statement that has reinforced long-standing criticism that the religious body functions as an extension of the party.Historically, the SGPC was regarded as the “mother” of the SAD; the party was formed a month after the SGPC’s creation in 1920. Dhami’s formulation suggests a reversal of that relationship.The AAP government has adopted a far more aggressive posture towards the SGPC than previous Congress governments. If it proceeds with investigations into the alleged irregularities, the implications for the SAD could be significant. With the Punjab elections shaping up as a decisive contest for the party’s political survival, the intersection of faith, institutional control, and electoral politics is unlikely to recede from the centre of Punjab’s public life.