Kurukshetra, August 5
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that assembled here today accepted the resignation submitted by Akal Takht Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti and appointed Giani Gurbachan Singh, head granthi of Harmandar Sahib, as president of the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs.

The meeting of the SGPC was held at Gurdwara Sri Hargobind Sahib and was presided over by Avtar Singh Makkar and attended by 13 of the 15 members. Vedanti had yesterday submitted his resignation to SGPC general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur and executive member Rajinder Singh Mehta, in which he cited health reasons for resigning from the post.

The resignation was today read out by Makkar before the SGPC members and was accepted by 11 of the 13 members present during the meeting. Karnail Singh Panjoli and Gurwinder Singh raised objections against the resignation, alleging that Vedanti was being forced to resign as SAD chief Prakash Singh Badal wished so. Bhajan Kaur and Santok Singh did not attend the meeting.

Panjoli alleged that Vedanti had fallen off the good books of Badal for his having raised the demand for a separate state for the Sikhs during his recent visit to the US and for having asked Sikh MPs to support Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the N-deal issue in Parliament.

Panjoli said the manner in which Vedanti had been “forced to resign” without having been allowed time to put up his point of view was unacceptable.

Makkar told The Tribune that Vedanti had stated in his resignation that due to ill-health he was unable to continue as Akal Takht Jathedar and had requested the SGPC to appoint the next Jathedar of the Takht.

He said it had been decided to appoint Giani Gurbachan Singh as Akal Takht Jathedar and he would be sworn in on August 7 in the presence of various Sikh organisations.

He, however, refused to divulge the reasons behind Vedanti’s resignation.

Vedanti had been appointed Jathedar of Akal Takht in 2000. Recently, he came under attack from a number of Sikh organisations for his having failed to handle the Sikh-dera row with a “strong hand”.