A day after Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, rejected the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026, and issued a 15-day ultimatum to Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party government to amend it, chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday categorically ruled out any rollback of the anti-sacrilege law.
Addressing the media in Sangrur and Patiala on the sidelines of his Shukrana Yatra to express gratitude for the enactment of the law, Mann said: “The anti-beadbi (sacrilege) law has already been passed and is being implemented after receiving the Punjab governor’s nod. We will not roll back the law at any cost. There is no question of rolling back the legislation, which has overwhelming support from the sangat (Sikh community) across the world.”
Referring to Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, the chief minister said: “A particular family is opposing the legislation because of its own involvement in past sacrilege incidents. Sukhbir Badal is daydreaming about returning to power, but he will go to jail because he is a culprit in sacrilege cases. Those claiming that the Panth has rejected this law must explain why lakhs are supporting it.”
Reacting to the Sikh clergy’s ultimatum, he alleged Akal Takht was behaving as if it were running a “parallel government” and accused “Badal-Panthi” elements of politicising the issue for narrow gains and creating unnecessary confusion around the legislation.
“What wrong have we done by strengthening the law and ensuring harsher punishment for sacrilege?” he asked, noting that the SGPC itself had passed a 2007 resolution authorising such legislation.
On Friday, Punjab assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan appeared before Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj and Takht Damdama Sahib jathedar Giani Tek Singh Dhanaula at the Akal Takht secretariat in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar.
The acting jathedar said that Akal Takht would provide the Punjab government with a panel of Sikh legal experts and former judges to help build consensus on the legislation. “Until Akal Takht and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee give their approval in this matter, Sikhs will not accept the law,” he said. He warned that if the government failed to amend the law within 15 days, a meeting of the five Sikh clergy would be convened and “strict action” would follow.
The clergy specifically objected to provisions requiring the SGPC to upload records of Guru Granth Sahib ‘saroops (copies)’ to a government-monitored website, which they termed “state-mandated digital surveillance.”
Sandhwan said the government remained committed to Panthic sentiments and that apprehensions over the law could still be addressed through rules framed under it.
