With the head priests of the five takhts taking a tough stand on the Dera Sacha Sauda by asking it to pack up and leave the state of Punjab and the followers of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, chief of the sect, deciding to meet the challenge in a Gandhian manner by donating parts of their bodies and blood in Sirsa, the stage is set for one of the biggest confrontations between the Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal which is now in power and the Dera Sacha Sauda, that may unfortunately force the state to sit on another volcano of violence.
Five head priests lead by head of the Akal Takht jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti rejected the 'regret' tendered by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and asked him to apologise before the Sikh sangat for dressing like Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru of the Sikhs, and distributing amrit.
The allegations were denied by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and he said by way of apology that he could not even think of emulating the Sikh guru.
Vedanti accused Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for an act of blasphemy for imitating tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh. "The priests gave the call for the bandh in a fresh hukamnama (edict) at the end of their two-hour crucial meeting at the Akal Takht in the Golden Temple hours after the police in Bathinda filed a case against Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for allegedly hurting religious sentiments," he said.
It was generally expected that after the chief of Dera Sacha Sauda had tendered his well spelt out apology, the Sikh clergy would mellow down its stand and let the things go with a warning.
It seems that the radicals had an edge over the moderates and the five head priests were forced to take a tough stand to pacify the feelings of the Sikhs.
"There is no question of disagreeing with the stand taken by the five Sikh Sahibans. How can any religion and particularly the Sikhs overlook an insult to its great Guru Gobind Singh who is a national heritage," said jathedar Avtar Singh Hit in a conversation with rediff.com on Sunday.
In a strong editorial Ashwini Minnah, who suffered greatly during the terror reign of Jarnail Singh Bindarnwale, hoped that better sense would prevail and both sides would use restraint so that Punjab is not pushed back to the bad days of militancy.
"We have suffered enough and now the two sides should exercise restraint and avert a showdown," he said in a well thought out editorial.
Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal has a tough time ahead and he would have to use his entire administrative skills to ensure that the standoff between the Akalis and the followers of Dera Sacha Sauda is not allowed to go out of hand and that the two sit down and settle issues amicably.
Akalis are insisting that the cases against Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, including the one registered in Bhatinda for hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikhs, and murder of a journalist at his Dera should be expedited and action be taken against him by May 31.