Baba Santa Singh Nihang

Baba Santa Singh was the head of the Budha Dal, the Nihang order; The Tribune calls him "chief of Baba Budha Dal" in 2001. Wikipedia, the only source we found for his dates, says he was born Pashaura Singh at Gujranwala in 1928, served as the 13th jathedar of the Budha Dal from 1968, and died on 8 May 2008, aged 80.

Pundri, 1978: Gurmit Singh writes that in February 1978 police firing at Pundri near Kaithal killed three Nihangs in a dispute between the Kaithal Municipal Committee and the Nihangs over 20 kanals of land attached to the samadhi of a former Sikh ruler of Kaithal. Baba Santa Singh demanded a judicial inquiry and told Nihangs across the country to march on Pundri. A compromise was reached on 21 February 1978 and he called off his agitation.

The Akal Takht, 1984: After Operation Blue Star the Akal Takht stood wrecked. In Gurmit Singh's account the Union minister Buta Singh went from dera to dera looking for a saint to do kar seva, and none would while the Army remained in the complex. The Akalis said they would, but only if the Army first withdrew completely, which the Government would not accept, and the Government then got Santa Singh to undertake the work. Kar seva began on 17 July 1984. The same author says the Sikh priests called it "Sarkar Seva", service of the Government and not kar seva: the labour was hired through a semi-government transport company, the Military Engineering Services was allotted Rs 27 crores for materials, the Public Works Department and the National Building Company were involved, and the Army stayed in the complex. SGPC acting president Rajinder Singh Dhaliwal announced that anything Santa Singh built in the complex would be demolished.

Excommunication and return: Gurmit Singh says the five head priests summoned him, that he refused to appear and ridiculed the priests and the SGPC, and that he was excommunicated and declared a tankhaiya, with those working with him declared enemies of the Panth. The Tribune says he was excommunicated for carrying out the construction of the Akal Takht against "Sikh Maryada", after Operation Blue Star.

• 17 July 1984: kar seva on the Akal Takht begins under him.
• 1984: the head priests excommunicate him. On 11 August 1984, Gurmit Singh says, a "Sarbat Khalsa" called by the Government praised Santa Singh and Buta Singh.
• 17 March 2001: The Tribune reports that he accepted a tankhah pronounced from the Akal Takht rostrum by Jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti: five days of tankhah including reciting or listening to Japuji Sahib, an Akhand Path at Gurdwara Likhansar and ardas. It notes that he had been excommunicated 17 years earlier.
• 8 May 2008: he dies, according to Wikipedia.

He is remembered as the Nihang chief who carried out the Government-backed rebuilding of the Akal Takht, for which he was excommunicated and, 17 years later, brought back by tankhah.