Giani Harpreet Singh

Giani Harpreet Singh is a Sikh preacher from Muktsar Sahib. The Wire gave his age as 53 in August 2025. The Tribune reports that he joined the SGPC as a preacher in 1997 and became head granthi of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Muktsar, in 1999. He is now president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit), a faction that broke from the Badal-led party, and The Wire calls him the first Dalit to become president of an Akali Dal. He is a living politician, and what is said of him below is attributed to those who said it.

Key moments

• April 2017: the SGPC appoints him Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, replacing Giani Gurmukh Singh.
• 22 October 2018 to 16 June 2023: he is also acting Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib. He resigned after controversy over his attending the engagement of AAP MP Raghav Chadha and the actor Parineeti Chopra. On 22 June 2023 he said he had quit on his own, though he indirectly acknowledged pressure. Giani Raghbir Singh took over.
• 2 December 2024: as Jathedar of Damdama Sahib he is one of the five Singh Sahiban who, led by Giani Raghbir Singh, pronounce tankhah on Sukhbir Badal and the Akali leadership. The Tribune says he was also on a panel of five high priests that expelled a SAD leader who had alleged he owed allegiance to the BJP and RSS, and that he offered his resignation to the SGPC president after a tiff with that leader, which was not accepted.
• 11 February 2025: the SGPC executive, chaired by Harjinder Singh Dhami, removes him as Jathedar of Damdama Sahib after a probe panel found him guilty of misconduct on a complaint. Three executive members walked out, calling the decision politically motivated and pointing to the 2 December directives. He alleged that messengers of the Badals were conspiring for his permanent ouster. That is his claim.
• 11 to 12 August 2025: an Akal Takht-appointed five-member committee unanimously elects him president of the breakaway faction, at a delegate session at Gurdwara Burj Akali Phoola Singh, Amritsar. He said the faction would try to register as the Shiromani Akali Dal with the Election Commission, spoke of securing the release of Bandi Sikhs, free and fair SGPC elections and a panel on desecration cases, and said he would not contest elections himself.
• April to May 2026: an eight-member Panthic Unity Coordination Committee, formed on 18 April to unite his faction with the Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) of the jailed MP Amritpal Singh, collapses. Rachhpal Singh Sosan, for the Waris Punjab De side, said the two could not agree on basic and ideological issues. Sucha Singh Chhotepur, for Punar Surjit, said his party had shared a vision document both had agreed on. In May the faction's MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali resigned, reportedly unhappy that some leaders were cozying up to the BJP and that some who had lost the moral right after the 2 December edict still held posts.
• 30 June 2026: after AAP MLAs appeared before the Akal Takht, he criticised SAD leaders for what he called contradictory positions on the Takht's authority.

The two sides. In his maiden speech as president, and in an interview with The Wire, he said the Badal-led SAD defied the Akal Takht edict and has lost its political and moral relevance, and he denied being a BJP-RSS B-team. Sukhbir Badal says Harpreet Singh defied the 2 December 2024 hukamnama by setting up a parallel party, and that he conspired with central agencies to weaken the Akali Dal. The Wire reports that the Election Commission recognises the Badal-led party.