Bringing back Akali Dal to power would drag Punjab into dark era: CM Mann

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday (January 18, 2026) attacked the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and warned that the party’s return to power would again drag the State into a dark age.

The CM said that the Punjab government had to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the missing 328 ‘saroops’ (sacred copies) of the Guru Granth Sahib and the CM blamed the crimes of Akalis and the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the body responsible for the management of historic Gurdwaras. “Our only aim is to trace the missing sarops. We have no intention of interfering with religious institutions,” he said while addressing a public meeting at Majitha in Amritsar.

The Prime Minister reiterated the supremacy of the Akal Takht, the highest Sikh temporary seat, and said: “Sri Akal Takht Sahib is superior to all of us. That is why I did not attend the function of the President of India and chose to appear before the Takht instead.”

He said that unlike his own government, the Akalis had repeatedly undermined the authority of Sri Akal Takht Sahib. “Jathedars were appointed and dismissed at their own whims, dealing a serious blow to the sanctity of these institutions,” he said, adding that Congress party leaders had lost their political balance after facing continuous defeats.

Mr. Mann announced that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Talbir Singh Gill will be the AAP candidate from Majitha in the 2027 Assembly elections.

The Prime Minister claimed that AAP represents a new politics in which people are partners in governance and not petitioners before the government. He said Majitha would no longer send a representative who believes in intimidation and delegation but in decision-making, development and accountability.