Akal Takht declares CM Mann Guru Dokhi and anti-Khalsa Panth

Who: Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, acting jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, with the five Sikh high priests; and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party, who rejects the allegations against him.

What: On Monday 15 June 2026, after a meeting of the five high priests in Amritsar, the Akal Takht declared Mann "Guru Dokhi" (betrayer of the Guru, or the Guru's adversary) and "Khalsa Panth Virodhi" (anti-Khalsa Panth), and told Sikhs not to associate with him. The Wire reports two grounds: the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026, passed by the Punjab government on 13 April, which the Akal Takht said was made without consulting central Sikh institutions; and a video in which Mann is alleged to sprinkle alcohol on a picture of the ten Gurus. Scroll adds remarks about Guru Ki Golak and a photograph of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

The video's path: the Akal Takht received a complaint on 4 January; Mann was summoned and on 15 January called the video fake and AI-generated; on 27 January the Akal Takht wrote asking him to name two forensic labs and says it got no reply. It then had the video examined at two government-recognised labs, whose reports dated 27 May and 13 June found no tampering or AI manipulation. Gargaj said the chief minister had lied at the Akal Takht.

Mann said the person in the videos bore no resemblance to him, and accused Akal Takht office-holders of spreading malicious disinformation for their political masters. AAP's Baltej Singh Pannu said the forensic reports establish that the video is authentic but not who appears in it.

Where: Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Amritsar.

Why it mattered: The edict came ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly election, as The Wire's headline notes, against a sitting chief minister. The Wire reports that Mann refused to amend or repeal the Act despite the Takht's 8 May summons of Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and its written objections of 11 May. The Akal Takht also summoned Sikh ministers other than Mann and Sikh MLAs from various parties for 29 June, and asked non-Sikh ministers for written explanations. Observers differed: sociologist Manjit Singh said it would affect AAP's prospects, while journalist Jaspal Singh Sidhu called it politically motivated. PTI, in The Week, lists earlier political figures who faced the Takht, including Zail Singh, Surjit Singh Barnala, declared tankhaiya and excommunicated in 1986 over the police action at Sri Harmandir Sahib in Operation Black Thunder and said to have sought atonement two years later, Buta Singh and, in 2024, Sukhbir Singh Badal.