AAP government trying to 'spoil' Punjab's atmosphere: SAD

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) district chief (Ludhiana Urban) Bhupinder Singh Bhinda said on Monday that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was trying to “spoil” the atmosphere of Punjab. Addressing a press conference here, he termed the recent police case regarding 328 forms of Sri Guru Granth Sahib as “baseless.”

He was accompanied my senior SAD leaders Ranjit Singh Dhillon, Jagdish Singh Garcha, Harish Rai Dhanda, Parupkar Singh Ghuman, Jagbir Singh Sokhi and Harjinder Singh Bobby Garcha, among others.

The SAD leaders said that the forms in question were not lost, but distributed among devotees and gurdwaras.

“Due to their failure to keep proper records, 16 accused from 16 ‘Guru Ghars’ were sentenced to religious punishment. Now, the government is interfering in religious issues without any reason. The Akali Dal is being targeted by use of the forms as pawns,” Bhinda said.

He alleged that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was raising doubts about the Guru's Golak even as the sangat knows that schools, colleges, hospitals and community kitchens run with its help.

The SAD leaders pointed out that these funds are also used for aid when natural disasters strike.

Terming this an attack on the Sikh Panth, the SAD leaders alleged that it stemmed from AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s “anti-Punjab and anti-Sikh thinking”.

Calling the AAP government as hypocrite, the SAD leaders said that on one hand, the government was celebrating religious days and on the other, it was “committing sacrilege”.

They alleged the Mann government declared former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi's video regarding comments on Guru Tegh Bahadur as “edited” and declared her innocent. However, as per the law, the video should be investigated by the forensic laboratory, they said.