Pro-Khalistan slogans raised, Badal dubbed enemy of Sikhs
TALWANDI SABO (BATHINDA): A sarbat khalsa (religio-political congregation of Sikhs) called by radicals ended on Thursday with the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) dubbing Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal “enemy and traitor of the Sikh community”.
The government had disallowed the sarbat khalsa fearing that fiery speeches could incite public unrest. Key leaders behind this sarbat khalsa including SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjiit Singh Mann and Baljit Singh Daduwal were detained by Punjab police at the Haryana border near Mansa.
The congregation drew over 5,000 Sikhs including hundreds of women who eventually forced their way through police barricades at Talwandi Sabo to attend the sarbat khalsa.
As soon as the ‘akhand paath’ (uninterrupted recital of Guru Granth Sahib) ended, Bhai Jaskaran Singh Kahansinghwala of SAD (Amritsar) read a resolution describing chief minister Badal as the Sikh community’s enemy.
The resolution also called for a “crushing defeat of the ruling SAD led by the Badals in the coming state elections”.
Amid slogans of ‘Khalistan’, the SAD (Amritsar) resolution also accused the Badal government of failing to identify and punish the culprits behind the incidents of sacrilege of the holy Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab last year.
The resolution also slammed the Badal government for the Justice Zora Singh Commission’s inability to reach a conclusion in the probe into the sacrilege incidents and in identifying policemen who shot dead two youths during the public protests at Behbal Kalan last year.
Simranjit Singh Mann’s son Imaan Singh said, “It is sad that Badal government handed over
Who are the key radical faces? Former member of parliament (MP) Simranjit Singh Mann, Mohkam Singh,one-time close aide of Bhindrawale, former MP Dhyan Singh Mand, Baljit Singh Daduwal, a firebrand Sikh preacher form the core of radical spectrum
Why do they want to hold sarbat khalsa?
Sarbat khalsa is a medieval
Sikh practice of holding a representative gathering of community.
Why the Badal government disallowed the sarbat khalsa? Radicals called for another sarbat khalsa at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district on December 8 as a parallel show of strength to Akalis’ election rally on the same day on the birthday of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. The government disallowed it, apprehending law and order problem. the probe into the sacrilege incidents to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that already failed in probing the role of the state in the killings of the Sikhs in 1984”.
The resolution also called
Radicals’ agenda is to harp on religious issues to garner support among the Sikhs ahead of Punjab assembly elections slated in next two months. They plan to forge an antiBadal front and challenge Akalis’ hold on Sikh religious institutions. Last year, a radical-sponsored ‘sarbat khalsa’ had announced a parallel set of Sikh head priests, including a convicted assassin of former chief minister Beant Singh. for an independent Sikh state which would be secular in character.
Inspector general of police (IG) Bathidna range SK Asthana claimed the police secured law and order.