Former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, on Saturday led the party in the initiation of ‘akhand path’ at Akal Takht.
It is also Parkash Singh Badal’s birthday.
Sukhbir Badal showed up for the religious ceremony with an untied flowing beard, otherwise rarely seen in that form in public.
Observers saw it as a sign of tribute to the SAD’s Panthic roots. During the ‘bhog’, party leaders will perform ‘ardas’ seeking atonement for “mistakes” that might have been committed “inadvertently” during their decade-long rule, it is learnt.
The SAD-BJP government had been rocked by a series of sacrilege incidents and the Behbal Kalan police firing in 2015.
Party spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said the entire SAD leadership had unanimously decided to “bow before Akal Takht in humility”.
The ‘path’ commenced in the presence of SAD’s core committee members, former ministers, MLAs, halqa in-charges and SGPC members.
SGPC secretary Diljit Singh Bedi had on Friday said SAD leaders might perform ‘sewa’ at the langar hall or the Jodda Ghar.
