Khalsa marks 248th day atop mobile tower

Patiala: The Punjab Vidhan Sabha convened a special session on the occasion of Baisakhi to table and pass a new anti-sacrilege law, as activist Gurjeet Singh Khalsa entered his 248th consecutive day atop a 400-foot mobile tower in Samana in Patiala district. On Monday, the Punjab govt introduced and passed the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026, an amendment to the existing 2008 Satkar Act, at a special session of the Vidhan Sabha. The proposed Bill sought stricter punishment for sacrilegious acts against the Shri Guru Granth Sahib.Leaders of the Dharam Yudh Morcha, also known as the Sarb Dharam Beadbi Rokko Kanoon Morcha, welcomed the legislative development but said the agitation would not end until the law was fully enacted and implemented.For 17 months, Khalsa, a 43-year-old farmer and retired soldier from Kheri Nagaiyan village in Patiala, lived atop a cellphone tower in Patiala district, using a sheet of tarpaulin for cover and a blanket, to demand a strict law against sacrilege. He climbed the 400-foot-tall tower of a cellular company in Samana to press upon the govt to enact a strict law under which an act of sacrilege would invite life imprisonment. Since then, a youngster from his village climbed up daily to bring him food and bring down his bodily wastes. Atop the tower, Khalsa's blood pressure and sugar levels fluctuated at times due to the absence of physical activity. Despite his deteriorating health, Khalsa said he would not come down until the anti-sacrilege law was implemented in Punjab. "I will only come down when the law is implemented," he has repeatedly asserted. A sacrilege incident inside a gurdwara in Jalandhar in October 2024 drove Khalsa to leave his home and start the protest. The incident was the latest in a long series of desecrations in Punjab for over a decade.Public anger reached a flashpoint in October 2015 after torn pages of the Guru Granth Sahib were found in Bargari in Faridkot. The subsequent police firing on protesting Sikhs at Behbal Kalan, which left two Sikh protestors dead, sparked statewide outrage. This event was considered a turning point in Punjab politics and was said to have contributed to the Shiromani Akali Dal's downfall in the 2017 and 2022 Assembly polls.While welcoming Monday's development related to the bill, the Dharam Yudh Morcha maintained a cautious stance.Morcha coordinator Gurpreet Singh said Khalsa would descend only after the law received the Governor's assent and was formally notified. "The bill still requires Governor's assent before it can be notified as law — a procedural step that has delayed past legislative efforts as well. For Gurjeet Singh Khalsa, sitting 400 feet in the air in Samana, that day — and only that day — will mark the end of his extraordinary vigil", said coordinator Gurpreet Singh.The protest site in Samana continued to draw supporters. Ahead of the Assembly session, 400 farmers sat on a dharna at Baba Banda Singh Bahadar Chowk Samana near the tower in support, despite efforts by the police to stop them.Talwinder Singh, one of the organisers at protest, said, "It is a positive step that the bill has been passed in the assembly and now the Governor's assent is required. It is expected tomoroww some govt officials or leaders may reach the protest but Gurjeet Singh Khalsa has already announced that he would step down only after the law is enacted".Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan had earlier visited the Samana protest site to assure Khalsa that the govt would act. He announced he would personally hand over the draft of the passed law to Khalsa at the morcha site on April 14."Nearly a decade after the torn pages of the Guru Granth Sahib were found at Bargari in 2015, the resulting anger still lingers. "Governments have changed, laws have been promised, and commissions have submitted reports, but the political aftershocks of that episode continue to travel through every election cycle," said protestor Dharminder Singh. MSID:: 130237162 413 |
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