‘Will not let Sukhbir off the hook on sacrilege, it’s no bygone issue’

Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 14 

Bringing the sacrilege issue back to the centre-stage ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for May 19, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today warned Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal that he would “not let him off the hook” on the emotive issue and “they would be held accountable for it”.

Hitting back at Sukhbir Badal, who has accused the CM of hobnobbing with the radicals to make sacrilege a poll plank, Capt Amarinder said, “He should understand that whenever there is an incident of sacrilege, I will oppose it tooth and nail.”

In an interview to The Tribune, the CM said, “Sikhs have not forgotten the Ghallughara, how can Parkash Singh Badal maintain sacrilege was a bygone issue?”

Predicting that the Badals would lose from Bathinda and Ferozepur seats, he refuted any anti-incumbency, saying it was time for Narendra Modi to show his report card. “I will give mine in 2022.”