New Delhi: The Nirankari sect has decided to make Savinder Kaur, widow of the deceased Baba Hardev Singh as head of the sect.
The sect followers have accepted her as their ‘Guru’ and are relieved as the speculation over the succession plan has ended.
She will be the first woman and the fifth in line to head the sect founded in 1929. Savinder, who hails from UP’s Farooqabad, was married to Hardev Singh in 1975.
Kaur will lead the sect during today’s ceremonies to perform the last rites of Baba Hardev Singh and son-in-law Avneet Setya who died in a car crash in Canada last week.
Savinder was offered the ceremonial ‘dupatta’ at the anointment ceremony attended by the 21-member management committee headed by its president JRD Satyarthi.
"The Antim Yatra (last journey) will begin on Wednesday from Ground No.8 and conclude at Nigam Bodh Ghat. Antim Sanskar (last rites) will take place at the CNG Crematorium at 12 noon," mission official Kirpa Sagar said in a release.
Baba Hardev singh was born to Gurbachan Singh and Kulwant Kaur on February 23, 1954 in Delhi. He had joined the Nirankari Sewa Dal as its primary member in 1971.
After the assassination of his father, who was also then head of the Sant Nirankari Mission in 1980, he succeed as the ‘Satguru’ of the organization.
Sant Nirankari Mission was established in 1929, by Baba Buta Singh who previously belong to the Nirankari sect. He was succeed by Baba Avtar Singh, the mission flourished after it shifted base to Delhi from West Punjab, after partition of India in 1947.
By 2009, the organization had over 100 branches in 27 countries.
