Opinion: Bangla Sahib Gurdwara Becomes New Battleground Ahead Of Punjab Polls

Religion is expected to be a major poll plank in the 2027 Punjab elections as issues like sacrilege, the controversial Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Act, 2026, and Panthic politics were already dominating the election scene.

The debate between AAP and BJP over the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara episode clearly shows that both the parties were bent on outdoing each other on Sikhism and the sanctity of gurdwaras and Guru Granth Sahib. More so because Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the AAP's chief ministerial face again, has been declared Guru Dokhi and has been pulled up by the Shri Akal Takht over the shortcomings in the law being enacted to prevent sacrilege.

Gurdwara Bangla Sahib has become the newest arena where the BJP and AAP are trading charges, with both parties clearly eyeing the political fallout in Punjab. What began as a law-and-order response to protesters who entered the complex has quickly been framed as a test of who can better claim to protect Sikh interests - and who can be painted as the greater threat to them.

Fuming after the recent CBI and ED raids, the fight moves to New Delhi as Bhagwant Mann tries to rake up the alleged police action inside the gurdwara complex. The AAP's narrative spins around the tenets of Sikhism and Sikh shrines, which make it mandatory to cover one's head and remove shoes while entering a gurdwara. The target is not BJP but the Delhi Police, which is controlled by the Union Home Ministry and not by the Delhi chief minister, the prerogative which AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal wanted to enjoy while heading the Delhi government. That's why the AAP leaders, including Bhagwant Mann and other Punjab party leaders, were trying to paint BJP as anti-Sikh and anti-Punjabi.

Bhagwant Mann not only condemned the Delhi Police action in strong terms but also targeted Union Home Minister Amit Shah, asking why he was in a hurry to send police to the gurdwara. Interestingly, he also reminded that Sikhism did not differentiate people based on caste and religion and everyone was welcome to take shelter in a gurdwara. Bhagwant Mann invoked principles such as the oneness of humanity and "Ik Onkar" to argue that the entry, with officers bare-headed and wearing boots, trampled the dignity of the shrine. He insisted the Sikh community would not forget what he described as a shameful act by the BJP.

The timing is hard to miss. Mann is the same chief minister who earlier faced sharp criticism and was summoned by the Akal Takht over remarks about gurdwara golaks. That episode had drawn accusations from the SGPC and others that he had questioned offerings. Mann had, however, called his own video clips fake and clarified his position before the Akal Takht secretariat. He was also declared Guru Dokhi for disrespecting Sikh Gurus and was now positioning himself, and AAP, as the defender of the same institutions.

The AAP has used the Bangla Sahib episode to argue that the Centre and Delhi Police showed scant regard for Sikh religious practice, turning the entry into both a violation of sanctity and proof of continuing high-handedness. BJP leaders counter that the party is simply using the controversy to paper over its own problems in Punjab.

After the CBI and ED raids on offices and the booking of senior aides of Mann, the state government has been under sustained pressure over governance and law-and-order questions. Casting the Delhi incident as an assault on Sikh sentiment lets AAP present itself as the protector of the panth while shifting attention away from those cases and from protests already underway inside the state.

AAP leaders have kept up the attack. Spokesperson Baltej Pannu has demanded Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation over the decision to send police inside the Guru's house and has repeated the charge that the BJP has long shown hostility toward Sikhs. He has urged Akal Takht Jathedar Kuldeep Singh Gargaj to take the matter up with the Ministry of Home Affairs. AAP MLA Baljinder Kaur has also joined the chorus, claiming the police action violated the sanctity of the place, that brutality was used against the youth who sought refuge, and that the episode has reopened old wounds linked to Operation Blue Star. Manjit Singh GK has asked who authorised the police to enter Bangla Sahib.

BJP leaders and Sikh figures close to the party have rejected any charge of violation of Sikh temple rules by cops, accusing AAP of deliberately turning the gurudwara into a protest site. Senior advocate HS Phoolka targeted Arvind Kejriwal and the party for bringing the protesters to the Gurudwara complex. Viral videos also bear testimony to it, as the protesters were seen holding placards, some standing with shoes and uncovered heads. Phoolka has called the sequence a pre-planned attempt to divert public attention from AAP's troubles in Punjab and has labelled what happened inside an act of sacrilege. Phoolka also claims the protesters ignored sevadars (the volunteers) who tried to stop them while demanding registration of a criminal case against AAP.

Accordingly, the DSGMC General Secretary Harmeet Singh Kalka, parroting Phoolka, has also objected, saying the Guru's house is a centre of faith, not a platform for political self-interest. At the same time, some hardline Sikhs have defended allowing the protesters in, arguing that the tradition of open doors and sewa has always welcomed people regardless of background. That split is now being watched closely in Punjab: one side treats shelter as consistent with Sikh history, the other insists a gurudwara must stay free of political activity.

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee leaders, close to BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, have filed a police complaint against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders, citing disruption of the gurdwara's sanctity and the circulation of misleading videos. DSGMC and Delhi Police have said the videos were put out to create a false impression and that security personnel stayed in common transit areas without entering the main sanctum.

In another development, the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is desperately seeking re-stitching of an alliance with BJP, has been left embarrassed after party leader and MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal condemned the alleged police action against protesters near Gurdwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi on social media but later deleted the post.

Reports from the ground say the gurdwara management barred cops from the main premises, and police remained in the outer areas. Even so, the political use of the incident has already spread. In Punjab, both parties are now mobilising Sikh opinion, each trying to cast the other as the greater danger to religious dignity. The argument over whether a place of worship can also serve as a protest shelter is unlikely to fade quickly - especially when both sides see it as useful ground for the next election. The larger question is whether gurudwaras will continue to be drawn into these contests whenever one party or the other spots an opening.