Baba Thakur Singh

Baba Thakur Singh led Damdami Taksal through the twenty years after Operation Blue Star. Wikipedia gives his birth year as 1915. The Tribune reported on 24 December 2004 that he died that day in Amritsar, after a brief illness, at the age of 89. It said he had taken over as acting head of the Taksal in June 1984, immediately after Blue Star. Wikipedia says Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was killed in the attack on Sri Harmandir Sahib, but Thakur Singh is reported to have said that Sant Ji was not dead.

Key moments

• June 1984: he becomes acting head of the Taksal after Operation Blue Star (The Tribune).
• He is reported to have said that Sant Jarnail Singh was not dead and would return (Wikipedia, summarising Mark Tully and other writers).
• June 2003: as the Taksal's temporary head he presides over an emergency meeting at "Tressy, USA" (The Tribune's spelling of the place) that names Bhai Ram Singh, 40, a former Golden Temple priest and aide of Sant Jarnail Singh and nephew of Sant Kartar Singh Khalsa, as the 15th Jathedar (The Tribune).
• 24 December 2004: he dies. Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa, known as Dhumma, takes over as acting head. In January 2005 the SGPC passes a gurmata recognising Ram Singh instead, on the strength of a fax bearing Thakur Singh's signature appointing him Jathedar. Bibi Jagir Kaur says that recognising Baba Harnam Singh would defy the decision of the SGPC and the Akal Takht, and that he must declare that Sant Ji has passed on (The Tribune).
• Senior Taksal leaders and members accepted Harnam Singh Khalsa. Ram Singh heads a breakaway group, and the SGPC later hailed Harnam Singh as Sant Jarnail Singh's successor in 2017 (Wikipedia).

What he is remembered for: keeping the Taksal going after 1984, and the contested succession that followed his death, over who was the rightful head and whether Sant Jarnail Singh had been declared a Shaheed.