Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj

Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj is Jathedar of Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib and, since March 2025, acting Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib. He was 40 when appointed and had worked as a kathavachak, a preacher, since 2001. The Babushahi and PTC News profiles say he is the son of Narinder Singh, from Jabbowal village in Amritsar district, holds a master's degree in History, received religious education at Sikh Missionary College, and has given katha at Gurdwara Manji Sahib Diwan Hall, Sri Darbar Sahib. They add that he has worked for the education and shelter of poor and orphaned children.

How he came to the Takht: On 7 March 2025 the SGPC executive removed Giani Raghbir Singh as Jathedar of Akal Takht and Giani Sultan Singh as Jathedar of Kesgarh Sahib, named Gargaj Jathedar of Kesgarh Sahib and gave him additional charge of the Akal Takht (The Tribune). He took charge at Anandpur Sahib in the early hours of Monday 10 March, well before the scheduled time, reportedly because Nihang and Damdami Taksal groups had called for the ceremony to be disrupted. At the Akal Takht the head granthis of the Golden Temple and Akal Takht were absent, which Giani Harpreet Singh called a first in the Takht's history (The Tribune). The SGPC said no norms were broken and called the criticism propaganda (The Tribune).

Key moments

• 10 to 12 March 2025: calls the Akal Takht's edicts of 2 December 2024 "unalterable", and says he will hand over his turban to a successor the day the Panth finds shortcomings in him. He says he represents the Panth, not the Shiromani Akali Dal (The Week, PTI).
• 2025: Nihang bodies and the Damdami Taksal oppose his appointment (The Week). Takht Sri Patna Sahib declares him tankhaiya; the dispute is settled at a meeting of the five Singh Sahiban that he chairs on 14 July 2025, where Patna Sahib apologises and both sides withdraw their edicts (The Tribune).
• 26 May 2025: visits Dhian Singh Mand, named acting head of the Takht by the 2015 Sarbat Khalsa, and says there can be no factions in the Khalsa Panth (The Tribune).
• 15 June 2026: with the five Singh Sahiban, declares Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann a "Guru betrayer" (Scroll's wording) and anti-Khalsa Panth after two laboratories found two videos untampered. Gargaj said Mann had lied at the Akal Takht. Mann says the person in the videos does not resemble him and accuses Akal Takht office-holders of spreading malicious disinformation (Scroll).
• 29 June 2026: 87 Sikh MLAs meet him at the Akal Takht. He tells them the government was misled in drafting the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, objects to an online central register of saroops, and directs that the objectionable clauses be removed within a month and the Act kept on hold (The Tribune).

Status: The Tribune still called him acting Jathedar on 30 June 2026. His standing is disputed. The SGPC, which appoints the Jathedar, backs him. Nihang bodies, the Damdami Taksal and Giani Harpreet Singh objected to how he was installed.