Akal Takht asks Akali Dal to expel Virsa Singh Valtoha for 10 years
Akal Takht has “ordered the expulsion” of Virsa Singh Valtoha from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) while “holding him guilty of denting the credibility” of takht jathedars.
Valtoha was summoned by Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh for allegedly indulging in character assassination of jathedars in public domain. After reportedly failing to prove his claims with “concrete evidence” before the Five High Priests, assembled at the Akal Takht, Giani Raghbir Singh “directed SAD working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder to expel Valtoha from the party within 24 hours, terminate his primary membership for 10 years and bar him from participating in any party activity till then”.
Accepts verdict
As a humble Sikh, I accept the Akal Takht verdict. Yet, before putting the SAD leadership in a peculiar position, I, myself, quit the primary membership of the party. Virsa Singh Valtoha
The closed-door conversation between the Five High Priests and Valtoha was also videographed. After the Akal Takht’s verdict, Valtoha declared to leave the primary membership of SAD voluntarily, yet he urged Giani Raghbir Singh to make his “clarification” and “the video of conversation between him and the Five High Priests” public.
“As a humble Sikh, I accept the Akal Takht’s verdict. Yet, before putting the SAD leadership in a peculiar position, I, myself, quit the primary membership of the party,” he said.
Later, Giani Raghbir Singh revealed that Valtoha had targeted him and Takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh. He had alleged that Giani Harpreet Singh had been conspiring at the behest of the BJP-RSS to get Sukhbir Singh Badal removed from the SAD president’s post, but could not present substantial proof in that regard.
Giani Raghbir Singh also made another shocking revelation that Valtoha had “threatened” him against taking any stern action pertaining to “tankhaiya” Sukhbir Singh Badal and had “recorded the conversation secretly, which was morally, ethically and legally incorrect”.
“I was not keeping well last week. Valtoha visited me at my residence on the pretext of knowing my well-being. After a normal exchange of words, he ‘threatened’ me that if any verdict was pronounced against Sukhbir Singh Badal, he would confront that. It was totally unethical on his part to record the chat between us without my knowledge through his mobile phone,” he said.
Giani Raghbir Singh said Valtoha had submitted his written clarification in person, but his claims were found to be frivolous and baseless.
On August 30, Akal Takht had declared Sukhbir Singh Badal “tankhaiya” (guilty of religious misconduct) for taking controversial decisions while heading the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and being the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab from 2007-2017, but the quantum of punishment was kept reserved.
On his social media page, Valtoha had queried about the delay in pronouncing the ‘tankhah’ (religious punishment) to Sukhbir. He had claimed that in response to his post, he had received “shocking feedback” that jathedars, allegedly under the influence of the BJP-RSS, intended to remove Sukhbir as the SAD president.
