Baba Ram Singh Sangrawan

Baba Ram Singh, also called Bhai Ram Singh, heads one of the groups into which the Damdami Taksal divided after the death of Baba Thakur Singh in December 2004. The Tribune of 19 June 2003 described him as 40 years old, a former priest of the Golden Temple and an aide of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. It said he is a nephew of Sant Kartar Singh Khalsa, the 13th Jathedar of the Taksal, and a moderate religious leader, known for religious discourses and for travelling abroad to promote the faith.

The Golden Temple: The Tribune said he resigned as a priest of the Golden Temple in protest after the SGPC transferred him to Jind in Haryana. The SGPC had acted, it said, because he would not follow the dress code for Sikh high priests and kept wearing the dress of Damdami Taksal students despite warnings.

The succession dispute: The Tribune reported on 19 June 2003 that an emergency meeting in the USA, presided over by Baba Thakur Singh, acting chief of the Taksal, named him the 15th Jathedar of the Damdami Taksal. That came after the Akal Takht Jathedar and the SGPC announced on 6 June 2003 that Bhindranwale had been martyred in Operation Blue Star; before that, Thakur Singh and some Taksal members had said he had escaped. After Thakur Singh died on 24 December 2004, Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa, known as Dhumma, was anointed acting Jathedar at Chowk Mehta on 2 January 2005, the same day on which, the Tribune reported, the Takht jathedars and the SGPC presented dastars to Baba Ram Singh, formally recognising the breakaway group of the 300-year-old Taksal. The Tribune's headline of 3 January 2005 read "Ram Singh heads breakaway faction". The group's function that day was at Gurdwara Gurshabad Parkash near Batala. SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur said on 1 January 2005 that the recognition could not be altered, and that it rested on a fax received by the Akal Takht on 17 June 2003 bearing Thakur Singh's signature. Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, the Akal Takht Jathedar, said Ram Singh had accepted the SGPC's and Akal Takht's position that Bhindranwale was martyred.

The Taksal's spokesman, Bhai Mohkam Singh, alleged that Ram Singh's supporters had forged Thakur Singh's signatures, showed a video he said showed Thakur Singh avoiding signing, and said a letter signed for Ram Singh on 17 June 2003 was withdrawn two days later. Bhai Manjit Singh and his supporters said the video was doctored.

Key moments

• 19 June 2003: The Tribune (Amritsar dateline of 18 June) reports that a meeting in the USA has named him the 15th Jathedar.
• 2 January 2005: the Takht jathedars and the SGPC present dastars to him at the function near Batala.
• June 2017: The Tribune places his Taksal at Sangrawan village in Batala.

Known for: in this history, for the rival claim to the headship of the Damdami Taksal, which the SGPC and the Takht jathedars recognised in January 2005 and the Taksal's own spokesman disputed.