Chandigarh NewsChandīgarh: Sikh historian Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgir, who has been director of the Sikh History Research Board of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), has claimed that Akal Takht was not built by any Sikh guru. He said the term Akal Takht did not exist before 1840 and was not found in any book published before 1920. He was addressing a press conference at the Chandigarh Press Club here on Monday. During this, Dr. Dilgir announced that if anyone could prove that Akal Takht was built by a guru, he would give him a reward of Rs 10 lakh.
According to him, after doing a deep study on this topic, he gathered many facts and then came to the conclusion that not only the word Akal Takht did not even exist during the time of the Gurus. He said that the term Akal Takht was coined by Nirmale Pujaris in Gurbilas Patshahi Chhathi, written in 1840, and Gur Pratap Suraj, written in 1843. He also said that in these books it is written that this is the throne of Vishnu (Lord).
Dr. Dilgir said that the Akal Takht building was actually the bunga (residential place) of the Akalis. In 1840, priests plotted to capture him and make him Akali Takht. Despite this, the word Akal Takht is not mentioned anywhere until 1920. Even between 1920 and 1979 no activity was recorded in the name of Akal Takht.
Dr. Dilgir also said that it was used as a platform to intimidate the Akalis and the government during the Khalistani movement. After the collapse of the Khalistani movement, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) took it over in 1993 and used it to intimidate their opponents. Nowadays, this weapon of intimidation is becoming a problem for Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal).
