Amritsar, June 10
The spokesman of the Damdami Taksal, Bhai Mohkam Singh was arrested from his residence here today, even as Akal Takht chief Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti took exception to the efforts of the Gurdwara Committee, Shaheedan, Talhan, to ‘misuse’ the name of Akal Takht for vested interests.
As per an advertisement published on behalf of the Gurdwara Committee, Jathedar Vedanti was to address a meeting of representatives of Sikh organisations at Jalandhar.
Sources close to Jathedar Vedanti said the Takht chief was not taken into confidence on the advertisement. When the draft of the advertisement was brought to him at the eleventh hour, so perturbed (Jathedar Vedanti) was he that he made telephone calls to editors of Punjabi newspapers to withhold the advertisement.
While the Editor of one of the leading newspapers agreed to do so in view of the sensitivity of the issue, another paper published the same after rehashing the matter.
The contents of the original advertisement were ‘inflammatory’. Had these been published, it would have further flared up the caste conflict.
Jathedar Vedanti did not visit Jalandhar today. Instead, he issued an appeal to the Sikh masses to maintain communal amity as Sikh tenets did not preach discrimination on the basis of caste.
Meanwhile, the All-India Sikh Students Federation led by Mr Harminder Singh Gill has urged Jathedar Vedanti to summon the warring factions at Akal Takht to resolve the issue.
