Sarbat Khalsa

The Sarbat Khalsa is the gathering of the whole Khalsa Panth. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism describes it as the collective conscience of the Sikh people and, historically, the highest body of the Khalsa commonwealth, with deliberative and executive authority. It met before the Guru Granth Sahib at the Akal Takht, usually at Baisakhi and Diwali. Its decisions, gurmatas, bind every Sikh, including those who argued against them.

In the eighteenth century a gurmata of 14 October 1745 sanctioned 25 jathas, and on 29 March 1748 another merged the bands into the Dal Khalsa of eleven misls. A gurmata of 1765 affirmed the Sarbat Khalsa's supremacy over individual leaders. The last assembly the Encyclopaedia records was in 1805, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh gathered the sardars over Jaswant Rao Holkar's request for help against the British. Its role was advisory and Ranjit Singh made the decision. After that the institution fell into disuse.

Key moments

• 26 January 1986, Sri Akal Takht Sahib: called by the Damdami Taksal after Operation Blue Star. The Caravan (2015) describes it as a Sarbat Khalsa convened "for the first time in over two centuries". The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism dates the last earlier assembly it records to 1805, 181 years before. It named a five-member Panthic Committee, disbanded the SGPC and announced further assemblies at Vaisakhi and Diwali; 1984 Tribute counts 23 gurmatas. The word Khalistan appears once, in the line that Satwant Singh, Kehar Singh and others, if martyred, would be called martyrs of Khalistan. The Declaration of Khalistan came separately, from the Panthic Committee, on 29 April 1986.
• 10 November 2015, Chabba village near Amritsar: called by Simranjit Singh Mann's Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and Mohkam Singh's United Akali Dal after the pardon of Gurmeet Ram Rahim and the wave of beadbi. The Tribune reported more than a lakh people. Its 13 resolutions named Jagtar Singh Hawara officiating Jathedar of the Akal Takht, with Dhian Singh Mand to act for him, stripped Parkash Singh Badal of the title "Panth Rattan", declared K.P.S. Gill and K.S. Brar tankhaiya, and reaffirmed that the Akal Takht should be fully independent.
• 26 January 2026: Dal Khalsa, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), the Panch Pardhani Jatha and the Hawara committee met at the Akal Takht on the 40th anniversary of the 1986 assembly and resolved to draft a framework for Sarbat Khalsa and gurmata-based decisions.

Who may call it: after Chabba, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar called every resolution null and void and pointed to the Gurdwara Act of 1925 on the appointment of jathedars. The Delhi and Pakistan gurdwara committees stayed away. The Caravan's Amandeep Sandhu argued that radical groups had taken over a popular movement and passed the resolutions by jaikara without discussion.

Where it stands: the SGPC removed Giani Raghbir Singh as Akal Takht Jathedar on 7 March 2025 and made Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj acting Jathedar. The Tribune calls Dhian Singh Mand the "parallel" Jathedar backed by the 2015 Sarbat Khalsa. Gargaj visited him in May 2025, saying there can be no factions in the Khalsa Panth.