Chandigarh, June 18
Shiromani Akali Dal today announced a “Dharam Yudh Morcha” from Sri Akal Takht Sahib from July 19 to remove “Guru Dokhi and Khalsa Panth Virodhi” Bhagwant Mann as Chief Minister who has been found and declared guilty of “committing heinous sacrilege and the most unforgivable outrage against the honour and sacred glory of Sikh Guru Sahiban and the supreme religio-temporal authority of the Khalsa Panth – Sri Akal Takht Sahib.”
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal declared that the ‘Dharamyudh Morcha’ will be launched under the ‘Chhattar Chhaya’ (overall spiritual patronage) of Sri Akal Takht Sahib.
“What Bhagwant Mann has done against the great Guru Sahiban and against established Sikh heroes is beyond the capacity of anyone to tolerate. He has tested the patience of devout Sikh community for far too long. This now is the limit,” said Badal.
The SAD president appealed to all religious organizations, Sikh Jathebandis, Sampradas, Sant Samaj, religious figures, Sikh scholars, intellectuals, socio-religious organizations and all political parties including the Sikh leaders of AAP, Congress, BJP etc., and others to join Dharamyudh to collectively fight against a “Guru Dokhi and Panth Virodhi” Bhagwant Mann.
The Akali chief has constituted a five-member coordination panel headed by the senior Akali leader Sardar Balwinder Singh Bhunder. The panel, which has Mahesh Inder Singh Grwal, Gulzar Singh Ranike, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Amarjit Singh Chawla as members, will meet and request all to be a part of this collective Dharmyudh Morcha against Mann.
“Punjab Jeeonda Guraan De Naam Te. No political party or religious organization, in fact no one, can tolerate and allow a “Dusht” and “Guru da Dokhi” to rule over the destiny of this sacred land,” said Mr Badal, adding ,” It is a non partisan and collective holy war against the enemy of Guru Sahiban and the Khalsa Panth.”
Badal also declared that the Akali legislators would not attend Vidhan Sabha as long as Bhagwant Mann is not removed as Chief Minister.
“On several occasions, drunkard Bhagwant Mann had to be removed by Sangat from sacred shrines as at Bargari congregation, Takht Sri Damdama Sahib. His own family, including his daughter, has accused him of violating the sanctity of Sikh shrines by visiting them totally drunk. He has habitually been bringing disrepute to Sikh quom by going in a drunken state to the Parliament and to Vidhan Sabha,” said Mr Badal.
The SAD president also mentioned that earlier in January 2024 Bhagwant Mann was declared guilty of police firing in Sultanpur Lodhi gurdwara, by Sri Akal Takht Sahib.
Lambasting Bhagwant Mann, Badal said that the video in which everyone can see a drunk Bhagwant Mann pouring liquor on great Guru Sahiban and Sikh heroes’ images had been in public domain for more than a year. It was shot and circulated by his own friend and colleague against whom they got an FIR also registered in October 2025.
In the FIR and the Court case, the government first declared it a “forged” video and said that Bhagwant’s image had been distorted with the help of Artificial Intelligence. On being summoned, he himself submitted before Sri Akal Takht Sahib in January this year that it was an AI created video.
“Sri Akal Takht Sahib had asked Bhagwant Mann to nominate two Forensic Labs of his own choice so that the video’s authenticity could be verified. For nearly six months, he did not do that. He did not even respond to two separate reminders in this regard by Jathedar Sahib. At his total indifference and refusal, the video was referred by Jathedar Sahib to two leading forensic labs in the country. The labs found the video to be totally authentic and not AI generated, as had been claimed by Bhagwant Mann,” Said the SAD president.
“Now suddenly, he has gone back on that public admission and now claims that the person in the video is not him. When found totally exposed, he has manipulated two fake lab reports within 2 days. “This is humanly impossible task in such a brief period. Any forensic lab examination takes a minimum four weeks for verification,” said Badal.
“I want to ask him, if HE was not guilty– why didn’t he get the video examined from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, which is situated in Chandigarh only,” questioned the SAD president, adding that, “I just learnt that they were now approaching Punjab DGP into this matter, so I challenge them to approach CBI if Bhagwant Mann is not guilty of this heinous crime.”
The SAD president also dared Bhagwant Mann to undergo Lie Detection Test. The Akali leader said that Beadbis (sacrileges) and AAP arrived in Punjab together. AAP MLA Naresh Yadav was found guilty by a court of committing sacrilege of Quran Sharif during Ramzan days in 2016. Instead of expelling Yadav from the party, Kejriwal rewarded him with MLA ticket in Delhi again.
Badal said that Finance Minister Harpal Cheema who is defending Bhagwant Mann today is the same person who had defended Naresh Yadav at that time. “Cheema is challenging the Khalsa Panth on an extremely sensitive issue. I appeal to him to desist from it.”
In a reply to media query, Badal stated that no commission or investigation agency ever named any Akali worker or leader as guilty in their probe report. He quoted Justice Zora Singh (retd) who openly accused AAP leadership behind sacrilege incidents in Punjab. He also mentioned a Bargari Sacrilege probe report released by Bhagwant Mann himself, which found Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Ram Rahim guilty of organising sacrileges in Punjab. But his government took no action against the guilty named in the report till date. In fact Bhagwant Mann government didn’t even grant sanction to prosecute Dera head.
