Parkash Badal dares Amarinder to prosecute him in sacrilege cases

Perneet Singh
Tribune News Service
Abohar, September 9

Under fire after tabling of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report in the Vidhan Sabha, the SAD on Sunday held a rally on PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar’s home turf. It accused the Congress of trying to disturb the hard-earned peace in Punjab and pitting Punjabis against each other.

Sensing the crisis that the grand old party is facing, former CM Parkash Singh Badal also attended a political event after a long hiatus. Addressing the rally, the SAD stalwart said: “Peace and communal harmony has been the motto of the SAD-BJP, but today it is under threat. I cannot sit back and allow the Congress to push the state into the turmoil again. The Congress wants to repeat the history by hobnobbing with the people who were responsible for the dark days.” 

He accused CM Capt Amarinder Singh of “returning to his old agenda of vendetta and confrontation that he pursued during his last stint in 2002-07”. He dared the CM to demonstrate the courage to prosecute and try them in a court of law, “if there is any shred of truth in his allegations against them” on the sacrilege issue.

He alleged that Amarinder’s tirade against the SAD on the sacrilege issue was merely an attempt to divert people’s attention from his own “sacrilegious act” of making false promises to the people while holding Gutka Sahib. 

On incidents of sacrilege during his tenure, Badal said: “Guru Granth Sahib is dearer to us than our lives. We can sacrifice ourselves just to safeguard the honour, dignity and glory of the sacred granth. How can those who rolled tanks into the Golden Temple and destroyed Akal Takht even understand the purity and profound depth of our sentiment?” 

Overwhelmed with the response to the rally, he said: “Your support has come as a morale booster for us. You seem to have reversed my age. I am 93, but feel like 39 today.” 

He said they always stood for a fair inquiry into all cases of sacrilege by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. He alleged that Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) was a close relative of AAP leader Sukhpal Khaira and an “evening pal” of the CM. 

SAD president Sukhbir Badal accused the CM of “trying to revive extremism by encouraging the likes of Dhian Singh Mand and Baljit Singh Daduwal”. He said earlier also the Congress had given birth to terrorism by encouraging radical elements to target the Akalis. He said the present Congress regime was again doing the same by facilitating the dharna at Bargari.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Bikram Singh Majithia, Manjit Singh GK, Sikander Singh Maluka and Virsa Singh Valtoha.

On the sidelines

• Akali Dal used buses of private transporters and schools to mobilise people for its show of strength. Buses from Haryana and Rajasthan were also spotted at the rally venue.
• A drone camera hovered above the site, apparently to keep an eye on protesters.
• A huge banner, put up on the dais, stated that the rally was aimed at exposing ‘anti-Punjab forces that are out to pit Punjabis against each other’.
• Ex-minister Bikram Singh Majithia took potshots at Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, citing instances when the latter had praised the likes of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Bapu Asaram and Radhey Maa.
• Former minister Surjit Kumar Jyani was the only prominent BJP leader at the event.
• Thanking the gathering, Sukhbir said many youths had skipped college to attend the rally, forgetting that it was a Sunday.
• All Akali leaders trained their guns primarily at PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar, though they didn’t forget to target the CM.
• Ex-CM Parkash Singh Badal took exception to Akali Dal leaders dubbing Abohar as Jakhar’s area. He reminded them that the people of Abohar had rejected him in 2017 Assembly polls.
• SAD’s Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya was not present at the rally. Sources say he was not even invited.
• Senior SAD leader and MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder expressed apology for ‘mistakenly’ addressing Badal as ‘Badshah Darvesh’ during his speech. He later said he actually wanted to refer Badal as ‘Darvesh Siyasatdan’.
• Some protesters carried placards with slogans like: ‘Jithey gaya Sirsa wala, othey bhejo jija-sala’ and ‘Sikh qaum de katilo wapas jao’.