Akal Takht declares Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann ‘Guru betrayer’ and ‘anti-Khalsa Panth’

The Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of the Sikhs, on Monday declared Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann a “Guru Dokhi” or betrayer of the Guru and “Khalsa Panth Virodhi” or opponent of the Sikh community, after concluding that two controversial videos linked to him were not generated using artificial intelligence, The Hindu reported on Tuesday.

The decision was announced by Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj after a meeting of the five Sikh high priests in Amritsar.

The Akal Takht said forensic examinations conducted by two laboratories found that the videos circulating on social media had “not been tampered with” and were not AI-generated, The Indian Express reported.

“Ultimately, the conclusion from both labs is that this video is authentic,” Gargajj said, adding that the laboratories were government-recognised and experienced forensic units.

He further said that the video appeared “entirely natural, just like sitting in a natural environment where shadows fall”.

Gargajj said the Akal Takht secretariat had written to Mann in January after he publicly stated that he was willing to undergo a forensic examination of the video, but had received no response since then, PTI reported.

He said the secretariat subsequently arranged for the video to be examined by the two forensic laboratories.

“A position of chief minister is respectable,” the jathedar said. “But chief minister Bhagwant Singh lied at the...

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