The main opposition party in Punjab, Congress, on Thursday lashed out at the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-led state government for handling the issue of alleged desecration of Sikhs’ holy book.
Mincing now words, Congress Deputy leader in the lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh did not rule out Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s “hidden hand” behind the incidents in Kotkapura, that eventually led to loss of two precious lives, “to divert public attention from his all-round failures”.
“Knowing Badal so well for over four decades now, I really cannot rule out his hidden hand behind the incidents in run up to the violence and subsequent firing on protestors as he is quite capable of doing such things,” he said adding, “however, this time Badal has nobody to blame except for himself and he will badly pay for it”.
leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Sunil Jakhar said that had the Home Department acted four months back to nab the culprits after theft of Guru Granth Sahib “bir” in Burj Jawaharsingh Wala village, the state would have not been put to present unrest.
State Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa also accused the Chief Minister and his Deputy son Sukhbir Badal of “resorting to diversionary tactics” to divert the attention from anger among the peasantry saying that this was not the first such instance.
Appealing for peace and harmony, Capt Amarinder cautioned the people of Punjab to beware of Badal’s divisive designs as he was capable of doing anything to save and safeguard his personal and political interests.
“Punjab is faced with worst kind of agrarian crisis where the farmers and farm labourers have lost all hope from the government and they are protesting for about a month now,” the former Chief Minister pointed out in a statement, while adding that Badal was totally clueless as how to solve the problem.
Similarly, he added that there is youth unrest with daily protests by the unemployed, seeking jobs which Badal government is trying to crush ruthlessly. “Apparently, having realised that he has failed on all fronts, Badal has resorted to what he is best about…raking up panthic issues and exploiting the sentiments of innocent Punjabis,” he said.
Capt Amarinder also questioned the efficiency of the Badal Government asking as why it did not take any preventive and precautionary measures and allowed the situation to reach such a passé that ended in unprovoked and unwarranted police firing on the peaceful protesters.
Jakhar said that Sukhbir Badal, who holds Home portfolio, has now announced a reward of `1 crore for providing information about the accused, “why he had not pulled the officials for not making any breakthrough in the crime which had hurt religious sentiments of millions four months back”.
“The police and civil administration have visibly collapsed since the officers are not given freedom to deal fairly with law breakers and mischief mongers,” alleged Jakhar.
Describing the desecration of “bir” as most unfortunate, he said that it needs to be condemned by one and all but the sad incident has also given miscreants an opportunity to exploit the situation. Bajwa, who was on his visit to Faridkot and Kotakpura hospitals, appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony at every cost in the state rather than taking law and order into their own hands.
“Everybody has right to protest and it can be done peacefully,” he said while terming the police action as “insensitive and miscalculated”. He maintained the intelligence set up had virtually collapsed and asked why the warning given by some miscreants was not taken seriously.
He also called upon the Badals to own moral responsibility of this tragic incident in which two people had been killed and several seriously injured during the firing by the police.