Divya Goyal

Over the past decade, Punjab congress has repeatedly witnessed leadership tussles, with senior leaders split into rival camps “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” The popular American comedian and aphorist Joey Adam’s witty one-liner quite aptly sums up what the Congress party in Punjab has been practising for over a decade now: scripting their own defeats before rival parties would.

SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami addressing the Panthic gathering organized at its headquarters Teja Singh Samundri Hall to deliberate the proposed law concerning sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Amritsar on Monday, April 6, 2026. Express photo by Rana Simranjit Singh The issue of sacrilege or beadbi has permeated Punjab’s politics since October 2015, when the pages of Sri Guru Granth Sahib were found torn and strewn in Bargari village of Punjab’s Faridkot town.

Ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ministers and MLAs appearing before Akal Takht in Amritsar, Monday. (Express Photo) Several Punjab MLAs across party lines acknowledged before the Akal Takht on Monday that they had cleared the anti-sacrilege legislation without reading its contents, claiming that the copies of the Bill were circulated only at the last minute.