Akal Takht Acting Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj on Monday pronounced Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as ‘Guru Dokhi’ (one who disrespects the Guru) and ‘Khalsa Panth Virodhi’ (anti-Khalsa Panth), the decision coming in connection with a purported controversial video.
Addressing a congregation here, Gargaj also appealed to the Panth “not to associate” with the CM.
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Rejecting the Acting Jathedar’s claims regarding the person in the video being Mann, Aam Aadmi Party’s state media incharge Baltej Singh Pannu called it a “conspiracy by the Badal group to defame the CM through so-called forensic reports, which don’t identify the person in the video”. “The Acting Jathedar should not act as an Akali Dal pawn. The Akalis and the Badal family have turned Akal Takht into a political battlefield to revive their fading relevance,” said Pannu.
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Incidentally, this is for the first time in Punjab’s history that a sitting CM has been declared ‘Guru Dokhi’ and ‘Panth Virodhi by the Sikh clergy.
Before taking the decision, the Acting Jathedar had convened a gathering of representatives from various Panthic organisations, Sikh scholars and legal experts. Gargaj also said the statements made by Mann “challenging the Akal Takht’s authority had caused resentment within the Sikh community”.
During the meeting, participants were shown the controversial video, which purportedly showed a person engaging in objectionable acts involving images of the 10 Gurus and a table-top statue of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Gargaj alleged that the “individual seen in the video was CM Mann”. He claimed the video had been examined by two forensic laboratories recognised by the Centre and both reports concluded that the “footage was authentic and showed no signs of tampering or manipulation through artificial intelligence (AI)”.
Regarding the credibility of the two laboratories, Gargaj said one of these had earlier submitted a report regarding a case in Manipur that eventually led to the fall of the then state government. He claimed reports from both laboratories had earlier been accepted in various proceedings before the Supreme Court.
According to Gargaj, the laboratories had also provided written assurances that anyone was free to challenge their findings in any court of law. He said the representatives of the laboratories were willing to appear before the court and defend their reports, expressing confidence that their conclusions could not be refuted.
“I am representing the highest Sikh temporal seat and with utmost responsibility and authority, I have no hassles in declaring that the video clip is original and features no one else but Mann. The video clip is not morphed, as is being claimed by the government. If the government attempts to challenge the report and my declaration, I will direct the SGPC to fight a legal battle against the government’s claims,” Gargaj told The Tribune.
He also rejected AAP’s accusations on acting at the Akali Dal’s behest. “Today’s congregation had representatives from various Sikh groups and parties, including SAD (Amritsar), Waris Punjab De, Tarna Dal Hariyana Velan Vale and Dal Khalsa,” he said.
Gargaj said when Mann was summoned to the Akal Takht Secretariat on January 15, 2026, he had described the video as fake and AI-generated. “The CM was later asked to suggest two forensic laboratories for examination of the video, and a formal letter was sent to him on January 27. However, no response was received from him or his office,” he said.
Gargaj said Akal Takht then “independently arranged forensic examination and the reports came on May 27 and June 13 and found the video to be genuine”.
The Sikh high priests also discussed the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026, and maintained that the “government had passed the legislation without the consent of major Sikh institutions”. They said written objections had been sent to the government through Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, but the “concerns were ignored”. The Sikh clergy summoned all Sikh MLAs and ministers in the Punjab Cabinet, regardless of party affiliation, to appear before Akal Takht Sahib on June 29. Written explanations would also be sought from non-Sikh ministers who supported the legislation, they said.
Meanwhile, Baltej Pannu maintained that the forensic reports failed to establish that the individual in the purported video was Mann and said AAP would place “complete truth before the people and expose every aspect of this controversy”.
Questioning the forensic report, 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 Mann’s height match the person visible in the footage? Which hotel room displays photographs of Sikh Gurus? All this is being staged because the government is getting closer to solving the conspiracy hatched by the Akali Dal against the Sikh Panth when sacrilege incidents rocked Punjab and the Akalis were thrown out of power. The opposition parties are scared of AAP’s rise and its popularity.” Pannu claimed the biggest challenge for the Akalis was that CM Mann, whom they “repeatedly attempted to defame”, had enacted a strict legislation to protect the sanctity of Guru Granth Sahib by introducing the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act