Posters calling for the social boycott of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann have surfaced across Ludhiana at various places. Posters have been displayed in the vicinity of the gurdwara in Model Town Extension, Gurudwara Dukh Nivaran, gurdwara at Shimlapuri, Atam Nagar, Gurudwara Manji Sahib in Alamgir and other gurdwaras.
The campaign took a sharper turn in Model Town Extension Chowk, where a poster outside Gurdwara Shri Guru Singh Sabha declared Mann “Khalsa Panth Virodhi,” with his photograph crossed with a bold red cross.
Just a few metres away, outside Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh Ji Shaheed, a massive flex targeting Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal, invoking the Akal Takht’s December 2, 2024, ‘panthak faisla’ against SAD leaders over sacrilege incidents during the SAD‑BJP tenure is displayed.
The flex carries a photograph of Sukhbir Badal with a plaque around his neck mentioning his confession of sins as the supreme seat equated his mistakes to sins.
The picture also shows Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and other leaders who were awarded religious punishment in 2024.
Payal MLA Manwinder Giaspur lamented that “gurdwaras, the supreme and most respected Sikh institutions, are being openly used for petty political gains”.
He said it was unprecedented that posters and banners on non-religious matters were being placed in gurdwaras.
Jagbir Singh Sokhi, SAD in-charge for Atam Nagar, said, “Sukhbir Badal has already undergone the punishment awarded by Akal Takht and has been granted pardon. What is the use of displaying such posters now? This is a thing of the past. Those putting them up only reveal their own insecurity.”
The poster drive started in the state after SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami’s June 23 meetings with religious groups, where he urged awareness must be spread about the Akal Takht’s directive against Mann. Acting Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj had earlier declared Mann guilty in the sacrilege video controversy, sparking calls for his resignation and intensifying the poster war, now visible across Ludhiana’s gurdwaras.