SGPC Removes Takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh

On 10 Feb, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) terminated Giani Harpreet Singh from his post as Jathedar (Leader) of Takht (Sikh throne of sovereignty) Sri Damdama Sahib. SGPC named Giani Jagtar Singh as interim replacement. The decision was made during the SGPC’s executive committee meeting in Amritsar, where a three-member panel’s report against Giani Harpreet Singh was accepted by a majority. SGPC secretary Partap Singh confirmed the allegations—linked in part to an 18-year-old domestic dispute on the basis of a complaint by Gurpreet Singh, married to Giani Harpreet Singh’s sister-in-law—were deemed proven. Three SGPC members objected to the decision and walked out, alleging undue political influence by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Giani Harpreet Singh had previously claimed he anticipated his dismissal, stating he was targeted after participating in pronouncing the 2 Dec 2024 edicts. The Akal Takht (Eternal Throne; AT) had said, ‘SAD has lost moral right to lead’ and the party must reorganize. The AT had awarded religious punishment on SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and others for alleged misdeeds committed from 2007 to 2017. Opposition members argue that the SGPC’s final report lacked transparency, describing it as a ‘hidden agenda’ and claiming they did not receive written documentation. Some leaders, including Bibi Kiranjot Kaur, condemned the move as a ‘political vendetta cloaked in religion.’ Giani Harpreet Singh said, 'I am not the first Jathedar who has been shown the door in such a way. My predecessors have also faced such situations. This will continue to happen until Sikh institutions are liberated from the clutches of political leaders.' There are allegations of Giani Harpreet Singh being close to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa. Still, his removal opens a chasm among the top three Sikh institutions, namely the Takhts, SGPC and SAD.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has lost the Delhi elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With 48/70 seats, BJP has reclaimed power in Delhi after 27 years. The Delhi results also highlight a shift among Sikh voters in Delhi, with the BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Tarwinder Singh Marwah among five Sikh candidates who won. Sirsa, was a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA but defected to BJP in 2017. He won from Rajouri Garden. Arvinder Singh Lovely, another former Indian National Congress (INC) Sikh candidate defected to BJP in 2024 and emerged victorious in Gandhi Nagar. For AAP’s Panjab government, the debacle raises alarm. AAP had prided itself on the same freebie-based model in both Delhi and Panjab, including subsidized electricity and partial job creation, but critics contend that repeated unfulfilled promises undercut the party’s image. Panjab BJP leaders claim it is ‘game over’ for AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and say the fallout will resonate in Panjab’s Vidhan Sabha (State Legislative Assembly) election in 2027. BJP general secretary Anil Sarin says Panjabis have become frustrated with the three years of AAP governance. Senior leader Ravneet Singh Bittu quipped that CM Bhagwant Singh Mann should ‘start packing his bags.’ Panjab INC leaders sense a potential mid-term election, believing that Kejriwal may try to become CM in Panjab, possibly exploiting a vacant seat in Ludhiana. It must be noted that AAP’s win in Panjab in 2022 was less through its own efforts and more through the widespread disenchantment against the traditional parties SAD and INC and further fuelled by the Farmers Protest 1.0. With two years left until the next elections, AAP must urgently address law and order, corruption, and other governance shortfalls to retain public confidence and forestall the ripple effect of the Delhi defeat.

On 5 Feb, upon US President Donald Trump’s first crackdown on Indian immigrants, a US military aircraft carrying Indian migrants landed in Amritsar. According to officials, the C-17 plane departed San Antonio with 105 deportees, underscoring Trump’s pledge to tighten borders and rapidly remove those who entered the country illegally. Although India accounts for roughly 3% of all unlawful crossings and the US has identified about 18K Indian nationals for deportation, the number could be much higher. The spectacle of migrants handcuffed and loaded onto a massive military plane is seen as part of Trump’s effort to deter new arrivals. Estimates indicate that such operations can exceed USD 4,675 per deportee, making them significantly pricier than standard Immigration and Customs Enforcement-run chartered flights. Despite concerns raised by some countries—like Colombia, which refused a US military deportation plane and later allowed commercial fights—Trump insists that strong visuals reinforce his no-tolerance stance. Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of External Affairs signaled willingness to take back Indian citizens who can be verified as overstaying or undocumented in the US. The plane carried 33 Gujaratis, 30 each from Panjab and Haryana, others from other states. Yet, its landing in Amritsar and not Delhi or Ahmedabad, especially when the plane flew over Gujarat to reach Panjab, has raised the heckles among Panjabis. They see the move as manipulating public perception that most ‘illegal’ migrants are from Panjab. In a parallel development, the US has reimposed sanctions on Iran’s Chabahar port project, previously exempted to support India’s regional connectivity to Afghanistan while bypassing Pakistan. For India, the suspension of the Chabahar waiver undermines a USD 11.4M investment. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to arrive in the US on 12 Feb for a two-day visit.

Panjab’s government has given the green light for drilling-based exploration of potash in Muktsar and Fazilka, where surveys by the Geological Survey of India have identified large mineral reserves across an 18-square-kilometre area. Panjab Mining minister for Water Resource, Mining and Soil and Water conservation, Barinder Kumar Goyal announced that the Union government is poised to auction these blocks, starting with Kabarwala near Muktsar, after which potash extraction can begin. Addressing the fears of local residents who oppose potential projects, fearing their farmland could be targeted for industrial use, the minister explained that the technique will involve deep drilling to about 450 metres—negating the need for open-pit mining or land acquisition. Yet, apprehensions remain. The potash find could significantly reduce India’s roughly 5M Metric Tonne annual import of the nutrient, saving foreign currency, and spurring local economic growth through processing facilities. Government officials anticipate that expanding local potash output, coupled with stronger environmental monitoring, will fortify Panjab’s agricultural base, bolster farmer incomes, and mitigate ecological risks across the region. Meanwhile, the government has also turned attention to water quality. A separate measure, ordered by the National Green Tribunal on 17 Jan, addresses severe contamination of groundwater due to unchecked waste disposal and overuse of chemical fertilisers. Panjab’s Biotechnology Incubator will collect 1,700 samples of agricultural commodities, as well as 600 soil and 500 irrigation water samples, to test them for hazardous metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, and uranium. Authorities hope this study will map the extent of pollutants entering the food chain via irrigation. Farmers in southwestern Panjab, battling water contamination and concerns about new mining ventures, also face debates on improved land management practices, given the region’s high usage of chemical-based inputs.

Teacher organizations, including the Democratic Teacher’s Front (DTF), criticized the Panjab government’s preference for sending teachers to Singapore or Finland over strengthening District Institutes of Educational Training (DIETs), which struggle with staff shortages. Despite a 2022 announcement to upgrade DIETs into ‘Centres of Excellence’ at a cost of USD 1.7M, progress has stalled. At the senior secondary level, 44% of Panjab’s 1,927 schools lack principals, with over 50% of schools in 10 districts facing similar shortages. Government officials blame a court case challenging the 50:50 ratio of direct recruitment vs promotions for principal appointments, but teacher leaders insist these constraints hamper any real advancement. Meanwhile, the newly released Annual Status of Education Report 2024 data indicates that although arithmetic skills in rural Panjab have improved—51.1% of class-3 children can do subtraction—while reading levels remain worrying, with only 34.2% able to handle class-2 text. Furthermore, 44% of class-5 children could not read basic text, though nearly half solved division problems. The numbers also show an upswing in pre-primary enrollments, suggesting parents increasingly see the value of early education. Critics point out these improvements remain uneven, as widespread teacher vacancies and minimal oversight hinder consistent instruction. Adding to the alarm, state-level teacher unions argue that countless educators remain assigned to non-academic tasks, exacerbating staffing shortfalls at DIETs and schools alike. With these compounding issues, teachers urge Panjab’s government to adopt measures that place local capacity-building above overseas training tours, fill principal posts, accelerate school-level reforms, and focus on bridging reading gaps. While improved arithmetic performance and rising pre-primary enrollment offer glimmers of hope, educators warn that only robust policy interventions—stabilizing DIETs, boosting teacher numbers, and addressing the reading crisis—will help sustain meaningful gains across the rural education landscape.

The Panjab government is undertaking major projects ranging from rebuilding critical irrigation canals to finalizing a potash mining initiative, as well as grappling with ballooning compensation demands for land acquisitions in national highway development. Emphasizing water management first, Panjab is set to invest USD 228K for reconstructing the 50-year-old Abohar Minor canal, formerly brick-lined but now switching to cement-concrete for reduced seepage. Although the canal had been closed due to earlier complications, authorities extended the shutdown to 28 Feb for thorough maintenance and cleaning. Simultaneously, a new policy awards up to 100 times the previous compensation for farmers hosting power transmission towers. Officials note these changes, including up to USD 97.2K per acre, have helped quell unrest among farmers—particularly regarding major highway expansion. Similarly, for the 38 km Ludhiana-Ropar highway being built by National Highways Authority of India, the government offered a 600% hike in land compensation. Over 125 acres of land has been acquired to revive 37 stalled highway projects in the last five months. Yet, stubble burning issues persist, which is often marked as a leading cause of Delhi’s hazardous Air Quality Index levels. The Supreme Court of India has asked the Commission for Air Quality Management to meet with Panjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh officials and finalize an action plan for managing paddy residue. Panjab’s Advocate General, Gurminder Singh, contends the state is committed to eliminating stubble burning but stresses that guaranteed Minimum Support Price for alternative crops remains crucial, urging the Food Corporation of India to pick up diverse produce so farmers feel secure pivoting away from paddy. These measures, from infrastructure upgrades and robust compensation to fertilizer self-sufficiency and stubble mitigation, are efforts the government is making to balance progressive initiatives with strong farmer-centric policies.

While the Indian Union government has called for talks with farmers over legal guarantee Minimum Support Price (MSP) demand on 14 Feb, the Ferozeput District Court has ordered the police to arrest all the ‘accused’ in the January 2022 Prime Minister security breach case on 14 Feb. In the breach, PM Narendra Modi’s convoy was halted for 20-minutes on a flyover in Panjab. Farmer union leaders have announced plans to intensify their agitation against the ‘attempt-to-murder’ charges filed in the case. On 11 Feb, thousands of farmers from Panjab and Haryana gathered near Ferozepur’s Senior Superintendent of Police office, demanding that Section 307 of the First Information Report be withdrawn. The farmers say the charges are baseless, pointing out that Bharatiya Janata Party supporters, rather than the protestors, approached the PM’s convoy. In a separate development, data provided by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to the Lok Sabha (Lower House) reveal that 8.5M farmers in Panjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh collectively owe about USD 25B to commercial, cooperative, and regional rural banks. Panjab farmers bear the heaviest debt load at USD 11.9B. Agricultural activists blame this ballooning liability on systemic issues such as over-reliance on wheat and paddy, and the absence of robust price support for alternative crops. Hoping to address such concerns, Finance Minister Sitharaman’s budget also earmarked USD 114M for a six-year Pulse Mission, aimed at producing more tur, urad, and masoor pulses through assured procurement by central agencies like National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India and National Co-operative Consumers' Federation of India. Experts note that encouraging farmers to grow pulses could help reduce Panjab’s 3.2M hectares under rice and 3.5M hectares under wheat, thereby alleviating groundwater depletion and meeting the demand for an expanded MSP.

The state government on 4 Feb strongly opposed incarcerated Jagtar Singh Hawara’s Supreme Court of India (SCI) plea requesting transfer from Tihar Jail, New Delhi to a Panjab prison. Citing intelligence concerns and a 2015 advisory about relocating sensitive convicts to a ‘border and sensitive state,’ Panjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh reminded the SCI Bench that Hawara’s earlier petition in 2018 was dismissed and insisted he ‘cannot claim Panjab,’ only perhaps Chandigarh, if at all. Meanwhile, the Patiala House court in Delhi granted bail to UK national Inderpal Singh Gaba, accused in 2023 of vandalising the Indian High Commission in London, stating no direct evidence linked him to violence or secessionist activity. Though the prosecution alleged extremist inclinations based on photos of Gaba posing with an AK-47 and a license plate reading ‘KHALI5TAN,’ the court ruled the images inconclusive and found Gaba’s alleged presence limited to a separate protest. In another incident, former Panjab Indian National Congress (INC) legislator Kulbir Singh Zira claimed he was chased by unidentified gunmen and shot at six times while en route from Ferozepur to Zira. Although he escaped unhurt, Zira asserts having received threats before, prompting Panjab INC president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring to slam the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for creating a ‘haven for gangsters.’ Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department on 6 Feb raided houses linked to Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh in Kapurthala, Jalandhar, and Chandigarh. An ex-Cabinet minister in Panjab who oversaw power and irrigation, Rana Gurjeet was previously embroiled in controversies related to sand mining contracts, forcing his resignation in 2018. His continuing political clout was evident when he and his son both secured victory in the 2022 Panjab Assembly elections. 

The Supreme Court of India (SCI) is set to hear a petition seeking to ban websites allegedly hosting jokes that ridicule the Sikh community. Arguments are scheduled to resume after the petitioner, lawyer Harvinder Kaur Chowdhury, consolidates suggestions from multiple parties. Chowdhury highlights that these online jokes target both Sikh women for their attire and Sikh students, who endure bullying in schools and online spaces. A few decades ago the jokes portrayed Sikhs as gullible but hard working people, but since the 1984 Sikh Genocide, they took a nastier turn including threats to life and hostility toward the Sikh identity. In 2015, the SCI admitted the petition, which contends that some five thousand websites depict Sikhs in a derogatory manner, infringing their right to dignity. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had also called for broadening anti-ragging definitions to include ‘racial slurs’ aimed at Sikhs, emphasizing the potential victimization Sikh students face. In parallel, the US is prosecuting acts of hate speech and threats directed at Sikhs. A 49-year-old man named Bhushan Athale pleaded guilty in a New Jersey federal court to hate-based crimes—one for threatening to injure employees at a Sikh civil rights nonprofit and another for interfering with federally protected activities via violent rhetoric. Court records outline that Athale left multiple profane voicemails in September 2022 targeting staff because of their perceived support of Khalistan. Prosecutors note that the threats also included expressions of hostility toward Muslims and antisemitic remarks. New Jersey has a sizable Sikh population, reportedly around one hundred thousand, and has marked political milestones such as the election of Balvir Singh to the Burlington County Board of Commissioners in 2017, and Singh’s recent swearing-in to the New Jersey Legislature.

A recently held exhibition in Lahore, Pakistan brought renewed attention to Panjab’s diminishing tradition of handmade folk toys. It was a poignant reminder of an art form sidelined by globalization and mass production. Titled Toys: Definitions of Childhood, the display—organised at Alhamra Arts Council—featured vivid photographs and textual notes by artist Waqas Manzoor, as well as actual examples of beloved crafts such as Ghughoo Ghoray (horses fashioned from scrap materials) and colourful clay figurines. While the exhibit evoked nostalgia among viewers, it also conveyed a certain melancholy, reflecting both the struggle of artisans striving to remain relevant and the waning prevalence of hand-crafted items in an era dominated by cheaper, machine-made alternatives. Many of these craftspeople live in poverty, forced to do other jobs for survival. Manzoor, whose photographic and written documentation of the craft dates back to 2021, reveals the challenge of even locating practicing toymakers in Lahore. He recounted searching from Thokar Niaz Baig to the River Ravi before finally finding a family of skilled artisans in Shahdara, all of whom expressed deep concerns about sustaining the centuries-old craft under dire economic conditions. Despite difficulties, these artisans remain determined to continue, partly out of cultural pride and partly from a belief in the inherent value of their work. Beyond the exhibit, Manzoor is currently developing a more extensive documentary in hopes of raising awareness and fostering preservation of the craft. He is especially drawn to folk toys for their raw aesthetic, bright colours, and sustainable materials—qualities that modern, mass-manufactured toys rarely possess. Without stronger patronage or formal documentation, these handmade toys risk disappearing within the next generation, depriving Panjab of a unique form of artistic expression that bridges tradition, environmental consciousness, and childhood wonder.