Once again, the Sikhs world over have seen the unceremonial exit of their religious head, Jathedar (high priest) of Akal Takht Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti. The reason is the same-differences with the political masters but issues are different every time. Others shown door in the recent past are Bhai Manjit Singh, Bhai Ranjit Singh, Giani Puran Singh and even Bibi Jagir Kaur who was sacrificed for different political reasons.
It is understood that Vedanti's increasing proximity with hard liner Sikh organisations on the issue of dera Sacha Sauda and his public opinion to vote for Sikh Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh during UPA government's trust vote on July 22 last were key factors that compelled SGPC to pack up Vedanti. The reports said that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had told Vedanti to quit else he will be expelled. The grapevine is that Badal wants to remove political irritants with dera Sacha Sauda and Vedanti didn't fit in his scheme of things.
Vedanti's tenure in the high temporal psot was full of controversies. He was appointed Jathedar of Akal Takht in March 2000 and was considered a pliable person specially cut out for the job to suit the requirements of Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) and SGPC.
Vedanti did his bit to appease the SAD and in the very fist meeting of five high priests on March 29,2000, in an unprecedented move rejected the three `hukamnamas' ( edicts) issued by his dismissed predecessor Puran Singh and `acquitted' all those who were ex-communicated from the Sikh Panth.
Giani Puran Singh had replaced Bhai Ranjit Singh. In series of events in March 1999, Bhai Ranjit Singh had sacked his predecessor Bhai Manjit Singh and excommunicated Parkash Singh Badal who was exonerated by Giani Puran Singh who further excommunicated the then SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur and some head priests.
Vedanti's decision to annul the edicts issued by Giani Puran Singh had benefited Bibi Jagir Kaur and Jathedars of Takht Keshgarh Sahib Manjit Singh and of Damdama Sahib Kewal Singh and Akal Takht head Granthi Bhagwan Singh. SGPC executive members Satnam Singh, Raghujit Singh Gora and Pritam Singh Bhatia and member Jaswinder Singh were readmitted to the Sikh fold.
Vedanti' stand on Nanakshahi calender introduced by Bibi Jagir Kaur in 1999 had irked many in the Sikh religion as he had allowed certain amendments under pressure from Sant Samaj. He was instrumental in change of certain historic dates related with birth and demise of Sikh gurus. He was also blamed for working in tandem with RSS to harm the interests of Sikhs.
Vedanti also came under fire for editing controversial script of "Gur Bilas Patshahi 6" reprinted by the Dharam Parchar Committee of the SGPC, Amritsar. Gur Bilas Patshahi 6 has regularly been recited in many Gurdwaras in the past. Although Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti and co-editor Prof Amarjit Singh had admitted that it contains some denigrating information, even then they have not tried to distinguish that how much is true and how much goes against the Gurbani and Sikhism leaving the readers in confusion.
On another issue of Dasam Granth, Vedanti had issued an edict to stop any debate on it since a major section of Sikhs found the contents of Dasam Granth objectionable and not tenable under Sikh traditions. The Sikh hardliners have been demanding ban on Dasam Granth while the members of Sant Samaj have been advocating recognisition for it.
In the recent past Vedanti had taken hard stand against dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh and has joined the hard liners to spearhead an agitation for his arrest. His remarks that SAD MP's shall vote in favour of Sikh Prime Minister didn't suit Akalis politically. It is learnt that SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had reprimanded Vedanti on his comments on trust vote.