Fanning radical agenda is playing with fire, says Bittu

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 6

Speaking in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour, Congress MPs from Punjab on Monday attacked Akali leaders for “fanning a radical agenda” in Punjab and warned them against playing with fire.

Flashing copies of The Tribune, which reported a Pakistan ISI hand behind the “Sikh Referendum Campaign 2020”, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said: “When secessionist elements are raising their ugly head, I stand here in grief not because I lost my grandfather to terrorism in Punjab but because MPs of a certain party (read Akali Dal) are demanding leniency for the killer of the late Punjab CM, who was assassinated for backing national unity.”

Bittu was referring to Akali Dal MPs recently petitioning Home Minister Rajnath Singh for commuting the death sentence of Babbar Khalsa terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana, the assassin of Beant Singh, to life imprisonment. The delegation comprised Akali Dal members SS Dhindsa, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and Balwinder Singh Bhundar, besides SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal. 

They said the execution of the death sentence of Rajoana had the potential to reignite communal passions. “It is shocking that elected Members of Parliament of a certain party should seek forgiveness for someone who says he does not believe in the Indian Constitution and was not regretful for what he had done. Rajoana even says he would repeat what he had done, of given a chance. The Akali Dal is fuelling the fire in Punjab but let me 

warn them against this attempt because another Beant Singh will not be born,” Bittu said.

Akali Dal MP Prem Singh Chandumajra was quick to retort to the Congress attack by asking the party-led government in Punjab why a CBI probe into the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 was being delayed. 

“When Akali Dal was in power, it expedited the probe. What is the Congress doing? We demand that the CBI report on the sacrilege of the holy book be concluded as soon as possible,” Chandumajra said. 

Green party endorses pro-khalistan rally

Moga: UK’s left-leaning Green Party has endorsed the August 12 pro-Khalistan rally at Trafalgar Square in London, which the Indian Government is trying to block through diplomatic efforts. This rally is being organised by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a New York-based advocacy group, with the help of Khalistani activists based in Europe to garner support for “Referendum 2020”, proposed to press demand for a separate Sikh homeland. TNS