It is bad enough that firebreaksbetween political disputes and religious disputes are virtually nonexistent in Punjab even today. In that context it is disappointing to find some intellectuals supporting the Akal Takht stand which accused Badal, in effect, of interfering in religious affairs. Surely a government led by the Shiromani Akali Dal is well placed in terms of its wider social responsibilities and its resources to manage an ambitious event of this kind. No doubt it is important to have the counsel of religious leaders but it cannot be anyone's case that the celebrations are a purely religious occasion.

Grave provocation would have been required for the SGPC to take the unprecedented decision to dismiss a jathedar of the Akal Takht. Bhai Ranjit Singh, who was ``suspended'' on Wednesday, evidently invited this drastic step by the lengths he was prepared to go to deny the Badal government the right to conduct the celebrations. By not confining himself to spiritual matters, Ranjit Singh was playing with fire. This forced Badal,acting through the SGPC, to take severe action. The jathedar is charged with disturbing the harmony among Sikh religious leaders and of using intemperate language. The latter is undoubtedly a reference to an ultimatum sent to Badal a few days ago, in which Ranjit Singh demanded commitments in writing on the official agenda at the celebrations in April. The items the government was required to adopt were the kind of inflammatory demands that had brought so much misery to Punjab in the past. They include recognition of Sikhs as a separate quom and a separate personal law. He also gave warnings of violent conflict. Although unwavering in its intention to conduct the celebrations itself, the Badal government had been careful, up to this point, not to confront the Akal Takht. It chose instead to demonstrate the wide support it enjoyed among MPs and MLAs, other jathedars and the powerful SGPC, ten of whose 15 executive committee members back Badal. But all this made no impact on the jathedar, nor wereleaders like Tohra prepared to rein him in. One must hope good sense will prevail now and the confrontation brought to a quick end.