Open Letter to SGPC on Roles and Responsibilities of Jathedar Sahib of Akal Takth Sahib.


This is in response to the Appeal by SGPC to provide suggestions on the Roles and Responsibilities of the Respected Jathedar of the Akal Takht Sahib. It must be noted that the Jathedar of the Akal Takht Sahib is a Politico-Religious person and not a mere religious head. Before the Jathedar will be questions concerning the political, social, economic, and of course religious affairs of the Sikh Panth.

Sikhi is fast evolving as a global religion and the Jathedar must represent the Sikhs across the globe and must not be limited in thought and action for Indian Sikhs. 

Most humbly and with full responsibility the following suggestions for the role of Jathedar Sahib of Akal Takth Sahib are presented:

 Roles and Responsibilities: 

1.        To be the guardian of the uniqueness of the Khalsa Panth, Khalsa beliefs, Khalsa way of life and system of prayer by preventing any act of dilution of the Khalsa Panth / Sikh Religion with any other religion for short term gains. 

 

2.        To be the guardian of monotheism, or the belief in one God-Akal Purakh and prevention of any misconception related to the belief in any form of idol worship. Whenever the issue of mention of other demi-gods arises, it must be interpreted as the Nirgun and Sargun Bhakti of various contributors of the Guru Granth Sahib and not be a representation of the Sikh faith which believes only in ONE GOD-Akal Purakh. 

 

3.        To be the guardian of the Sikh Rehat Maryada as formulated in 1936. 


4.        To be the deciding authority along with Panj Pyare (selected through the same process as the Jathedar), in case of adjudication in the matters of breach of Sikh Rehat Maryada and decision of Tankhaiya status for a person and the punishment for the repentance of the same. 

 

5.        To be the mediator in case of conflict/dispute/disagreement/fight/bitterness/loss of confidence between two jathebandhis/groups or individuals of religious character. The Jathedar shall have Suo moto powers and shall act by taking cognisance on their own without the need for a formal application. 

 

6.        To save the interest of the Sikhs from any other religious/cultural or political organisation, which may possibly have any intent of diluting Sikh sovereignty and engulfing Sikhism slowly into the Hindu or any other fold. (This is not at the cost of inter religion relations and Sikhi shall always promote harmony. But harmony should not be at the cost of dilution.)

 

7.        To create a process of registration and creation of directory of gurdwaras with a process where the Granthis and administrators of all gurdwaras across the world are provided training by Akal Takth so that Panthic Unity is established. This shall be regardless of the administrative control of these gurdwaras which shall remain with the parent committee/organisation and that shall not be point of conflict and this provision is limited to training and human resource development for gurudwaras across the world.

 

8.        To be in constant touch and conversation with jathebandhis like Namdhaaris, etc so that a common narrative on Sikh values and Sikh Point of view can be presented and no separate point of view by these jathebandis comes in conflict and creates a point of rift or provides opportunity for divide-and-rule by a third party on panthic matters. 

 

9.        The Jathedar shall be the spokesperson for the Sikh Community in Indian and International matters which may not only be religious, but be political, economic, social, and diplomatic, concerning welfare of the Sikhs.

 

10.  The Jathedar shall be the point of contact and rescue in case any Sikh is in trouble. The matter needs to be escalated to the Jathedar when it requires coordination between governments-Union and/or State, or international or bodies at the level where Jathedar is capable of intervening and influencing. 

 

11.  Shall be responsible for creating a dynamic discourse around religious matters which requires constant research and development. A religion without constant updates and research becomes a dead religion and the Jathedar shall put forward a religious discourse where questioning and the spirit of inquiry is promoted. 

 

12.  The Jathedar shall be consulted, and the opinion may transparently be published in case of any dispute in case of films, videos, songs, literature where Sikh historical/religious/cultural facts are involved. 

 

13.  The Jathedar shall be responsible to take an oath under affidavit that all attempts shall be made to actively remove caste from day-to-day Sikh affairs including, but not limited to:

 

a.        Removal of caste names from any member of Sikhs Gurudwara administration, committees, and local Sikh Sangats.

b.        Removal of caste names in matrimonial advertisements and selection processes of any sort and kind. 

c.        Removal of caste references in Sikh literature that shall be produced by the SGPC. 

d.        Uniting Gurudwaras in villages and removal of caste-based divisions in village level gurudwaras as caste based gurudwaras are the anti-thesis to the Sikh ideology. 

 

14.  The Jathedar shall be responsible for actively ensuring that conversion of Sikh youth into any other religion including Christianity, Islam etc is regulated and such conversions be resolved by local level interventions, and prevention of future conversions. This shall not be done by becoming vigilante, but by providing structural solutions to people opting out of Sikhi. 

 

15.  Jathedar shall actively promote the Punjabi language, but at the same time provide access to Sikh literature and Sikh thought in every possible language so that the Sikh message is available across the world to every Sikh and others. 

 

16.  Shall personally supervise monthly Amrit Sanchar Ceremonies at Akal Takth so that a new drive is created towards creation of Amritdhari Sikhs.

 

17.  Shall constitute an annual reward of Sikhs from various fields that are presented by the Akal Takth in various areas like medicine, engineering, literature, politics, science, arts etc so that hardworking, professional, and accomplished Sikhs feel at home and honoured. This honour shall be beyond religious activities. This shall send the message that Sikhi promotes a life of Keerat and Sikh youth are promoted by the Akal Takth itself to excel in various spheres of lives. 

 

18.  Shall be a channel so that funds provided for promotion of Sikh youth are used for scholarships, entrance exam training (NDA, IAS, NEET, JEE, etc) so that Sikh youth are trained fully and can become part of the mainstream and play a role in the national arena. 

 

19.  Shall rekindle the concept of Khalsa schools in villages, cities, and other places across the world so that Sikh students are given modern education training along with Sikh values. 

 

20.  Shall be the Chancellor of Universities created by SGPC and such universities are expanded, and new ones created in niche areas like agriculture, sports, economics, etc. 

 

21.  Shall promote the creation of hospitals and medical facilities and rekindle the spirit of service by Sikhs towards society so that the relevance of Sikhi is continually available to all people in tangible form beyond the spiritual values. 

 

22.  Elevate the Akal Takth to the level of a Sikh Think Tank where constant research and development occurs, and such knowledge products are made available to all Sikhs and others.  

Other points: 

23.  The Jathedar should be selected through a point-based process where the points are based on the listed qualities which are decided by SGPC. The selection should be from Jathedars among the following, through an open advertisement and through transparent process: 

a.        SGPC

b.        DSGMC

c.        Haryana Gurudwara Committee

d.        Damdami Taksal

e.        Nihang Jathebandhis

f.           Gurudwara Committees from Abroad.

24.  The Jathedar shall not be a salaried employee of SGPC but an institution which receives honorarium from an independent consolidated fund created for Akal Takth which shall be controlled not only by SGPC but also by other committees as mentioned above. This will prevent any conflict of interest and enable independence of the Jathedar. 

 


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