Amarinder being dictated by external forces: Bajwa

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24

Even as the Chief Minister has denied making a statement on exonerating Parkash Singh Badal in the sacrilege case, Rajya Sabha member Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday expressed apprehension that Capt Amarinder Singh was getting dictated by some extraneous forces.

While other Congress leaders are yet to react to the CM’s statement and subsequent denial, Bajwa said, “Damage done by the CM’s remark to the state Congress cannot be undone through a well-thought design of first playing the exoneration card and then issuing denial. It has hit the morale of the leaders who have been taking on the Badals. The vital point in this entire narrative on the sacrilege was rooted in the very electoral politics of the Badal family.”

The former PPCC chief said the exoneration of the Badals had further reinforced the perception among the people at large in Punjab about the complicity between Capt Amarinder and Badals. He reminded the CM that he had taken an oath holding ‘Gutka Sahib’ to punish the Badals for their crime of sacrilege but he had now violated his own pledge.

Capt Amarinder, in a statement, has said he had not given a clean chit to the Badals over their alleged involvement in the sacrilege case, which was more than manifest in their hobnobbing with Dera Sacha Sauda ahead of Bargari and their recent desperate attempts to scuttle the probe by influencing the closure report of the CBI.

“At no point did I say Parkash Singh Badal or his son Sukhbir were not involved in the sacrilege. All I have said was that Badal did not himself go and tear up the holy Guru Granth Sahib. But that does not rule out his involvement in the matter,” he said.

The Badals’ decision to back the dera for support in the run-up to the polls was a political move, but it triggered criminal actions for which, while they may not be directly responsible, their accountability can't be ignored, the CM said.

Besides, Bir Devinder, former Deputy Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha, said the CM’s statement on Badals had finally exposed the nexus of viewless understanding between the two families, without an iota of doubt. “How can the CM make such a resounding stupid statement on a super sensitive core religious issue of the Sikh community at a time when the state is going to witness the Assembly bypoll on four seats within a month,” he added.

Meanwhile, PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar said the Badals were clearly involved in the acts of omission and commission as they tried to save the perpetrators of sacrilege for vote politics and pardoning the dera chief.

Capt denies clean chit to Badals

At no point did I say Parkash Singh Badal or his son Sukhbir were not involved in the sacrilege. All I’ve said was that Badal did not himself go and tear up Guru Granth Sahib. But that does not rule out his involvement in the matter. — Capt Amarinder Singh, CM

Mann criticises CM’s remark

AAP MP Bhagwant Mann, while addressing mediapersons at Sangrur, slammed the CM for giving a clean chit to the Badals in the sacrilege incidents, especially when the SIT probe was still underway. He said the CBI giving a clean chit to Badal earlier was a well-thought-out ploy of the Captain government to offer him protection. Mann said the final verdict, which the SIT had to announce, came from the CM himself.