Yet to be rehabilitated, the cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday launched yet another scathing attack against his own party’s government from the political pavilion he was relegated to after he resigned from Punjab Cabinet berth nearly two years back.
Sidhu, the former Minister, blamed the Congress-led Punjab Government for betraying the people who voted it to power on the promises that it would punish those guilty of sacrilege and drug menace.
Mincing no words, Sidhu went on to question the constitution of the special investigation teams by the Government as none of them have yielded any result in the State. “In Punjab, the SIT means SIT-down. No SIT has yielded any result so far,” he said, while addressing the media in his and the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s home town, Patiala.
The assertions came two days after Sidhu had chosen the “sensitive” Bargari issue to hit at his own Government and its legal team by claiming that the case was not properly defended and “weak lawyers” were hired. In fact, Sidhu visited Kotkapura — the epicentre of the sacrilege incidents and subsequent protests — on Baisakhi following which he shared his views on Twitter.
Reiterating his demand, Sidhu on Friday demanded that the Punjab Police constituted a SIT probe into the 2015 firings at people protesting in Kotakpura and Behbal Kalan against sacrilegious incidents should be made public.
“The government was formed on the promise of punishing the guilty of sacrilege and those involved in the drug cases, but it failed on both fronts. The public feels cheated as the government didn’t keep its promise,” said Sidhu, who questioned why the action was not taken against the guilty.
That was not all! Sidhu went on to raise questions on the working of the Capt Amarinder Singh Government, while blaming the “botched-up” investigations since 2015 for the delay in justice for the victims.
“Why has the government failed to name and nail the guilty? On whose directions did the policemen open fire on protesters? Why are their names not mentioned in the FIR? It’s evident from the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report that the then Chief Minister had spoken to the then police chief at midnight, hours before the firing on protesting Sikhs was undertaken. The report was tabled in the House, debated and a resolution was passed to punish the guilty, but no concrete action has been taken. Who is responsible?” he said, asking the government to make the report of the sacrilege probe public.
“Everyone knows who is guilty for the sacrilege and firing on Sikhs besides the drugs problem of Punjab, but why has the government failed to act?” he asked, adding that the “public is angry with the government”.He said that when the culprits are identified as per the report, and there is evidence that the “then state DGP was in touch with the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at 2.30 am then it’s clear evidence that they were in cahoots”.
Underlining that sacrilege was the “most important issue for me”, Sidhu made it clear that he would not sit until the guilty are punished.Also raising the drugs issue, Sidhu sought to also make the report on drug cases compiled by the head of the Government-constituted Special Task Force on drugs Harpreet Singh Sidhu.
“Harpreet Sidhu’s report was handed over to the Government by the court for taking action. The file has been sent to the Government through the Advocate-General to act against the guilty. Why has no action been taken so far?” he asked.
Sidhu said that in case the Government does not believe the STF report, “it should probe the statements of drug lord Jagdish Bhola and others, who are on record to say that they were only pawns. Why have the big names involved in the drug racket not been exposed?”