Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday said that the Congress and the party of Arvind Kejriwal ganged up to fulfil the age-old dream of the anti-Sikh forces to gain control over the religious affairs of the Sikh community against mandate of the Sikh masses.
“Everyone can now see the desperate scale of interest which these parties have betrayed in grabbing control over the most sacred Sikh shrines and to convert the highest seats of authority in Sikh religion into the mouth-pieces of the anti-Sikh forces, exactly as the British had done before the Gurdwara Sudhar lehar. The Congress-AAP bluff has been called and now they can no longer hide their secret agenda and befool the masses,” said Badal.
He challenged both the Congress and its camp-follower, the Aam Admi Party, to display courage to openly seek a mandate from the Sikh masses by contesting the forthcoming SGPC general elections.
“It could not have been a mere coincidence that the Congress and AAP had identical stands on all other issues too like the SYl, Punjabi speaking areas left out of the state, release of Sikh prisoners, drugs, and non-interference in the religious affairs of all communities, especially the minorities,” he said.
Reacting to the passage of the Sikh Gurdwara (Amendment) Bill in the lok Sabha, Badal welcomed the development as 'historic' and thanked all those who supported the Sikh cause.
“This has undone a historic distortion in the Sikh religious affairs and in the management of the Sikh shrines. This will remove all unnecessary confusion on the issue,” he said.
“The Congress had always hatched conspiracies to dilute or destroy established Sikh institutions gained through countless sacrifices by Sikh masses and by leaders of the stature of Baba Kharak Singh and Master Singh. Now, AAP has joined it to strengthen anti-Sikh elements,” said the Chief Minister.
Badal said that SAD’s insistence on the management of Sikh shrines only by the ideologically pure and those perfect in understanding and implementing this purity of religious practices is purely for the purpose of management of Sikh religious affairs as per Sikh norms.