Book Bittu, others for giving milk bath to statue: SAD

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 27

Reacting to the case registered against the Youth Akali Dal leaders Gurdeep Singh Gosha and Meetpal Dugri for blackening the statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, senior leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today submitted a complaint to the police against the Congress MP Ravneet Bittu and others for giving a milk bath to the statue.

Senior SAD leader Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal believed that giving a milk bath to the statue of Rajiv Gandhi hurt the sentiments of the Hindus because milk is used to pay obeisance to the Hindu gods.

The complainant in the case is Amit Rathi, a resident of Patiala, who accompanied the SAD leaders to the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashwani Kapur.

The SAD leaders sought registration of a case under Section 295, 426, 506 and 153k, IPC; Section 67 and 68 of the IT Act; and Section 3 of the Punjab Prevention of Defacement Property Ordinance Act 2007 against Bittu, Gursimran Singh Mand, district Congress committee president Gurpreet Singh Gogi, councillor Rajiv Raja and others.

The complainant has submitted that he watched (on TV channels and the social media) Congress leaders encroach on the public property where a statue of former PM Rajiv Gandhi was installed, and they were cleaning the statue by pouring milk on it. “As a matter of fact, milk is used in the Hindu religion to pay obeisance to the Gods. The Congress leaders, in a criminal conspiracy, committed the act of cleaning the said statue with milk, thus hurting and outraging the religious sentiments and feelings of the Hindu community at large.”

Rights wing seeks FIR against Mand for cleaning the statue with his turban

Satnam Singh Dhaliwal, president of Universal Human Rights Organisation, said Congress leader Gursimran Singh Mand committed a heinous crime in order to hurt the religious feelings and sentiments of Sikhs and followers of the Sikh religion. Mand cleaned the statue of former PM Rajiv Gandhi with the turban he was wearing at that time.

Will bathe Rajiv's statue with milk 100 times: Bittu

MP Ravneet Bittu, while reacting to the complaint lodged by the SAD leaders with the Commissioner of Police, said being a Congress man, he would give milk bath to the statue of Rajiv Gandhi 100 times and it was no sin. He said the SAD leaders seemed to have found these petty tactics to get cheap publicity, and they had no genuine issues to raise.