Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today demanded a CBI probe into the November 23 attack on peaceful ‘sangat’ at Akal Bunga gurdwara at Sultanpur Lodhi on the orders of chief minister Bhagwant Mann, even as it rejected the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) led by SSP, Kapurthala to probe the sacrilegious incident, saying “the perpetrators of this ghastly crime cannot be expected to indict themselves”.
A resolution to this effect was passed at an emergency meeting of the party’s core committee which was presided over by its president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
The core committee observed that the attack on the gurdwara was born out of the anti-Sikh mindset of chief minister Bhagwant Mann as well as his boss Arvind Kejriwal, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “the AAP government is guilty of using the State police to take control of the gurdwara”. He said a CBI probe alone could expose the nefarious designs of the chief minister who ordered the attack on the gurdwara sahib to facilitate a takeover of the shrine on behalf of a particular section of Nihang Singhs. “Accordingly a criminal case under section 302 as well as section 295- A for hurting religious sentiments should be registered against the chief minister”. It also called for stringent action against cops who had assaulted and severely injured a PTC journalist who was covering the police attack on the gurdwara.
It also asserted that it was for the first time ever that the Punjab Police had stormed into a gurdwara when the ‘sangat’ was engaged in prayers and resorted to indiscriminate firing with automatic weapons. It said this was done despite the fact that there was no immediate provocation to take this step on the eve of the Parkash Purb of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji. “There was no breakdown of law and order in Sultanpur Lodhi nor was the public inconvenienced in any manner”.
The core committee also decided to launch a Punjab Bachao programme from January 15 during which the SAD president would lead a Padyatra across all constituencies of the State. It said the focus of the yatra would be on reaching out to the people in order to lay the ground to mitigate their sufferings by ensuring a resounding defeat to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2024 parliamentary elections.
The core committee also resolved to submit 26 lakh forms collected by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) from Punjabis, all of whom had called for the immediate release of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana as well as all other Sikh political prisoners known as Bandi Singhs from various jails in the country, to the President on December 20. SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami gave a call to congregate at Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib on December 20 before marching to Rashtrapati Bhawan to hand over the forms to the President.
It was also decided to observe the SAD’s foundation day on December 14 at Amritsar besides holding blood donation camps in all 117 assembly constituencies on December 8 to mark the birthday of former chief minister S Parkash Singh Badal which would be observed as Sadbhavna Diwas. The committee observed that Sardar Badal was a beacon of peace and communal harmony and observing his birthday as Sadbhavna Divas would be a befitting tribute to the five time chief minister.
The committee also expressed anguish at the manner in which the sugarcane farmers in the State were being discriminated against by being refused a fair State Assured Price (SAP) despite a sharp increase in all inputs. It demanded the AAP government immediately announce a SAP of Rs 400 per quintal for sugarcane in the State as well as provide compensation to cane farmers whose crops had been damaged due to flooding and diseases.
