Punjab Appoints First Pentecostal Church Representative as Minorities Commission Head

Jalandhar, August 15, 2025: The Punjab government has appointed prominent Christian pastor Ankur Narula’s close aide, Jatinder Masih ‘Gaurav’, as chairman of the Punjab State Minorities Commission.

He is the first appointee to the post from the Pentecostal churches, which emerged in Punjab in recent years, replacing those from the old mainline Protestant or Catholic streams.

Pentecostal churches headed by individual pastors, both in terms of their numbers and following, have shown phenomenal growth in Punjab in the last few years. Apart from people in Punjab, they also attract migrants from other states living in Punjab, and are also gaining traction in other states. Narula has also initiated scores of pastors who are now spread across Punjab and other states. Some individual pastors attract thousands in their weekly congregations, where the biggest attraction remains miracle healing of serious and chronic diseases, or resolving other issues, including financial ones. Though no data is available, looking at the congregations, it can be assessed that the old established Christian institutions of Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican Churches, which were once dominant in Punjab, have already been outnumbered by individual pastors, mostly from the Pentecostal system.

Coming from a Balmiki-Protestant family in Kalanaur, Gurdaspur district, Jatinder Randhawa became a follower of Pastor Narula around a decade ago and took the name Jatinder Masih ‘Gaurav’. As he became a close and loyal aide, he was appointed president of the Ankur Narula Ministries management committee and later became president of the Global Christian Action Committee. After his appointment, several pastors of the Pentecostal stream congratulated him on their social media pages.

The post had earlier been held by Abdul Bari Salmani, a Muslim leader who was president of the minority wing of the Aam Aadmi Party. Salmani was appointed chairman in January 2024, breaking the long-standing trend of Christian appointees, mostly from the old-time Protestant community. He resigned from the Commission some time ago and has now been appointed chairman of the Muslim Development Board. He also serves as joint secretary of the AAP’s state unit.

Jalandhar-based Ankur Narula Ministries claims to be the biggest and fastest-growing church in Punjab, and this claim does not appear to be an exaggeration, given the numbers attracted for weekly congregations both physically and online. “The church building (at Khambra) we have raised would be the biggest church in Asia, and it would be without pillars. It would be able to accommodate 50,000 people at a time,” Gaurav told TOI in September 2022. Their church, he said, attracts people from across Punjab, particularly from Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, and Kapurthala districts.

Source: Times of India