Sikh legislators affiliated with the Aam Aadmi Party submitted a formal appeal on Monday to Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, the acting Jathedar of Akal Takht, requesting that he call Union Home Minister Amit Shah — who does not follow the Sikh faith — to account for an incident on 10 October at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi, where police personnel are reported to have entered the religious premises without removing their footwear or covering their heads.

Whether Akal Takht holds the standing to call a non-Sikh political figure before it — an institution whose mandate draws from within the Sikh tradition — sits at the heart of a broader debate over where that body's jurisdiction ends and questions of propriety begin.

The Punjab BJP wing characterised the proposal as without merit.

Nijjar, an AAP legislator, argued that gurdwaras function as places of sanctuary and refuge, and that officers entering the premises without removing their footwear or covering their heads lacked any defensible justification for doing so. Giaspura, who holds a seat in the legislature as an MLA, characterised October 10 as a day of mourning for the Sikh community and called on Akal Takht to take a firm position in response.

Jeevan Jyot Kaur, a member of the legislative assembly, told reporters that the episode had wounded the feelings of the Sikh community. A written memorandum citing what the group described as a breach of the gurdwara's sacred space was handed over by the delegation, along with a call for accountability from those deemed responsible.

Questions were also directed at the absence of any public statement from Shiromani Akali Dal's Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harjinder Singh Dhami, who heads the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, with neither leader having offered a response.

Bhagwant Mann's summons to the Akal Takht secretariat in January — where the Punjab Chief Minister was directed to appear before officials over remarks and conduct deemed contrary to Sikh principles — lends particular weight to what the Jathedar himself had previously laid out. Gargaj noted that Sikh tradition does not require Mann to present himself at the 'fasil' — the front facade of Akal Takht — and that a written explanation submitted to the secretariat would serve in place of a personal appearance there.

No settled answer exists on whether Akal Takht carries any formal religious or institutional standing to call a non-Sikh Union minister before it — a question that gains added weight given that even a Sikh chief minister was, at one point, ruled ineligible to present himself at the fasil.

The Punjab BJP characterised AAP's position as both unfounded and misleading, with party representatives contending that the move was intended to draw public attention away from what they described as the state government's record of shortcomings. BJP state spokesperson Sarchand Singh urged Giani Gargaj to open disciplinary proceedings against the AAP legislators, arguing that the members had used religious observance as cover for advancing their party's political interests.

Sarchand relayed that Harmeet Singh Kalka, heading the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, had put out a clarification stating that officers from the police force entered neither the Darbar Hall nor the Langar Hall while wearing their shoes. A complaint lodged by the DSGMC led to the registration of an FIR naming AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and others, a development he described as one he viewed favourably.