Was the 2015 Sarbat Khalsa legitimate?

The claim: The gathering at Chabba on 10 November 2015 was not a true Sarbat Khalsa. SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said that day "All resolutions announced today stand null and void principally" and that the SGPC's authority over jathedars comes from the Gurdwara Act 1925 (The Tribune). The Punjab government argued, The Caravan reports, that it was not convened through the Akal Takht, not held there and lacked the approval of the Panj Piare. The SGPC, the Akal Takht and the Akali Dal rejected its appointments as the "activity of anti-Panthic powers" (The Tribune, 2017). Amandeep Sandhu, writing in The Caravan, accepted that the community can call a plenary meeting and revoke its leaders, but reported an organiser's remark that the resolutions were settled beforehand, wrote that they passed by jaikara with "no discussion", and called the meeting "a khap panchayat, only with greater numbers". The Delhi and Pakistan gurdwara committees and much of the Sant Samaj stayed away (The Tribune).

The sourced facts:

• Simranjit Singh Mann's Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and Mohkam Singh's United Akali Dal called it at Chabba after the SGPC refused them the Manji Sahib in the Golden Temple complex; The Tribune counted over a lakh. Its 13 resolutions named Jagtar Singh Hawara, serving a life sentence in the Beant Singh case, officiating Jathedar of the Akal Takht, with Dhian Singh Mand to act for him, named heads for two other Takhts until 13 April 2016, and stripped Parkash Singh Badal of the title "Fakhr-e-qaum".
• It followed the Takht heads' pardon of Gurmeet Ram Rahim, withdrawn on 16 October 2015 (The Tribune, 2017). The crowd gave its mandate against the heads "allegedly functioning under the influence of the SAD (Badal) government" (The Tribune, 2015).
• The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says the Sarbatt Khalsa was "invariably convened at the Akal Takht" and was "the supreme sovereign body, with deliberative and executive powers". Efforts to revive it have found no consensus on its constitution or a commonly accepted sanction. The Sarbat Khalsa of 26 January 1986 was called by the Damdami Taksal at the Akal Takht (Sikh Siyasat News).
• Punjab Police booked 20 people at Chatiwind in connection with organising the Sarbat Khalsa, under IPC sections 124-A (sedition), 153-A, 153-B and 120-B, UAPA section 13(1) and IT Act section 66-F. The case was "annulled in 2018 following the recommendation of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill Commission" (The Tribune).
• The Tribune reported in 2017 that the "parallel" jathedars struggled to win mass acceptance. On 26 May 2025 Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj visited Mand, the first such meeting since 2015, and said "There can be no factions in the Khalsa Panth" (The Tribune).
• On 2 December 2024 the Akal Takht under Giani Raghbir Singh withdrew Parkash Singh Badal's Fakhr-e-Qaum title, as the 2015 assembly had; Raghbir Singh said Sukhbir Singh Badal admitted calling the jathedars of the time to his residence to get Ram Rahim pardoned (PTI, Outlook). In December 2025 the Akal Takht pronounced tankhah on Giani Gurbachan Singh, Jathedar in 2015, over the pardon (The Tribune).

The Panthic answer: Supporters say the Sarbat Khalsa belongs to the Panth, not to the Jathedar who was its target. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism records that Guru Gobind Singh declared that wherever Sikhs gather in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib the Guru is present, and that the counsel reached is the combined will of the Khalsa (entry on Gurmata). Prabhsharanbir Singh and Jasleen Singh wrote in Round Table India that it "was organized to bring attention to the scores of unchecked incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib" and to free Sikh institutions from political control, and criticised the sedition charge. A five-member North American delegation for about 100 Sikh organisations attended; its coordinator, Harinder Singh, said "The decision of the Akal Takhat and its Jathedars affect all Sikhs globally" (Asia Samachar). The question of procedure is still open: on 26 January 2026 Dal Khalsa, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), the Panch Pardhani Jatha and the Hawara committee resolved at the Akal Takht to draft a framework for the Sarbat Khalsa, covering representation, transparency and implementation (Sikh Siyasat News).