Professor Darshan Singh Ragi

Professor Darshan Singh Ragi was an acting Jathedar of the Akal Takht appointed on the SGPC's side in the years after Operation Blue Star. Wikipedia's table of Jathedars, which lists him only as "Darshan Singh", gives his first term as 31 December 1986 to 9 March 1988 and a second as 1989 to 1990, both under the SGPC.

Key moments

• 31 December 1986 to 9 March 1988 and 1989 to 1990: acting Jathedar, by Wikipedia's table. The Tribune of 13 July 2002, in a report on the memoir of a former Amritsar deputy commissioner, bears out the start of the first term: it says that on 31 December "Bhai Darshan Singh Raagi joined as jathedar" (its account runs on to the Sarbat Khalsa of 26 January 1987, so it means 1986). The end of that term and the second term rest on the table alone.
• March 1990: The Tribune reported in June 2023 that the acting Jathedar Darshan Singh Ragi had to submit his resignation after an argument at the SGPC General House with the SGPC president of the day, Gurcharan Singh Tohra. The report gives no further detail of the argument.
• December 2009: Jagpal Singh Tiwana, writing on SikhNet on 10 December 2009, lists "Ragi Darshan Singh" among the Jathedars who were appointed and removed after 1984, and says his summoning and appearance at the Akal Takht on 5 December 2009 revived controversy over the office.

The Tribune of 6 December 2009 reported that on 5 December the five Sikh high priests held the former Akal Takht Jathedar, Prof Darshan Singh, guilty over remarks against Guru Gobind Singh that he was alleged to have made in a discourse at a gurdwara in Rochester in the United States, and declared him tankhaiya. The paper said his written clarification had been largely rejected, at least for the time being, and that the Jathedar, Giani Gurbachan Singh, said the tankha would be announced if he appeared before the Takht on or before 7 January 2010. Prof Darshan Singh told The Tribune that he had the highest respect for the Akal Takht and that the high priests should have discussed Panthic issues openly among the sangat instead of behind closed doors.

Tiwana says that the many Jathedars appointed and removed after 1984 hurt the credibility of the office, because one Jathedar would issue an edict and his successor cancel it.