Bhai Rajinder Singh Mehta

Bhai Rajinder Singh Mehta appears in this record as an adviser to the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), as The Tribune described him in January 2005. The sources opened for this page say nothing of his life before or after that month.

The Tribune reported from Mehta Chowk on 2 January 2005 on the dispute over who would lead the Damdami Taksal after Baba Thakur Singh. The Takht jathedars and the SGPC had formally recognised a breakaway group by giving dastars to Baba Ram Singh, who was installed as 15th Jathedar at Sangrai near Batala. At Mehta Chowk, Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa was anointed acting Jathedar of the Taksal.

What The Tribune reports of him

• On 2 January 2005 he accepted Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa as Baba Thakur Singh's successor. The paper says senior leaders of Akali factions also accepted him, and that this went against the decision of the SGPC, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and the Sikh jathedars.
• It says he rebelled against the joint decision of the Sikh clergy and the SGPC chief, and that he claimed Bibi Jagir Kaur had misled the sangat into believing Parkash Singh Badal had signalled recognition of Baba Ram Singh. The article gives no reply from her.
• He said he had spoken to Badal, who called the dispute an internal matter of the Taksal, and that Baba Ram Singh had made up the story that Baba Thakur Singh had installed him as 15th Jathedar.
• He said he had listened to the voice of his conscience and so attended the turban ceremony of Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma.

All of this is Mehta's account as the paper reports it. The paper presents Badal's position only through him.