A joint delegation of SAD and BJP state leadership on Tuesday met the Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore to seek his intervention to ensure justice to the victims and punishment to the guilty in the unfortunate Amritsar tragedy during Dussehra festivities.
At the same time, the former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has described the Dussehra-day bloodbath at Amritsar as “a man-made tragedy of an unprecedented magnitude” in the state.
He also accused the Punjab Government of “shocking and heartless non-seriousness”, adding that nothing symbolizes this non-seriousness and indifference more than the decision of the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to desert the people of the state in their hour of extreme grief.
“I find it insensitive and careless beyond belief that the Chief Minister chose to leave his state and his people to their own fate and decided to proceed on an utterly avoidable foreign trip. In his shoes, I would have cancelled the trip. I would prefer to spend this time addressing and minimizing the misery of the people of my state in their hour of most gruesome, man-made tragedy in decades,” said Badal while talking to media persons after leading the delegation to meet the Governor.
Badal said that the tragedy could have been easily avoided if Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife Dr Navjot Kaur had displayed even the elementary sense of responsibility by refusing to be associated with an event without the appropriate government permission.
“Thousands had been brought to the function by the organizers who enjoy the direct patronage and protection of Sidhus at the site which was highly vulnerable and tragedy-prone as it lay right adjacent to a busy railway line where long distance trains routinely ply. If they had sought government permission, it would in all probability have been denied or been granted only in consultation with the Railways,” he said.
The former Chief Minister reiterated his party’s demand for the immediate sack of Sidhu from the Council of Ministers and registration of criminal cases against all those responsible, including the prime accused Sidhu, his wife Dr Navjot Kaur, the Congress councillor and Dussehra organiser Saurabh Madan Mithu for their part in the tragedy.
He said that the tragedy could have been averted if the function had not been delayed to accommodate the VIPs. As per reports, Dr Navjot Kaur arrived at the event later than the scheduled time.
Badal pointed that announcements from the stage confirmed that the organizers were aware of the lethal danger from the approaching trains and the so-called willingness of the people to be to be crushed by these trains out of their love for the chief guest.
“But instead of intervening to stop such encouragements to tragedy, Dr Navjot Kaur herself blessed such announcements. This is unbelievable,” said Badal, regretting that instead of owning up to responsibility, “the villains of the tragedy had been busy brazenly painting themselves as heroes...They are working overtime to shift focus from their own culpability and to put the blame on others”.
The SAD-BJP delegation, including SAD chief Sukhbir Badal and Punjab BJP president Shwait Malik, submitted a memorandum to the Governor demanding sacking of Sidhu from the Cabinet, besides registration of criminal cases under section 304 against Sidhu, his wife and chief organizer of Dussehra function Saurabh Madan Mithu and other organizers.
They also demanded that an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court be instituted to arrive at the truth behind the tragedy.
The memorandum also demanded that compensation of Rs one crore plus a government job to one member each of the affected families be ensured by the government. It also demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakhs to each of the seriously wounded persons.
Among other important demands in the memorandum are the immediate shifting of all the senior officers of the district to ensure a free and fair probe.
Accusing the Congress-led Punjab government of shifting blame for Amritsar train tragedy on the Railways and of inaction against the organisers, the party termed the magisterial probe ordered by Chief Minister as a “cover-up to give a clean chit to his minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife”, who was the chief guest at the ill-fated Dussehra celebration on Friday".
SAD's attack comes a day after the Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar and Sidhu raised questions on the Centre and Railways’ role while alleging that the Indian Railways was “running away” from a probe.
“It is an afterthought to shift the blame. The commissioner of the (Amritsar) Municipal Corporation is saying there was no permission (for the Dussehra function). The land (where the event was held) belongs to the (municipal) corporation. Who else could have given permission? Nobody,” said SAD MLA Bikram Singh Majithia.
He said that the Railways was not organising the Dussehra function and it was not even informed about the event. “Somebody does not know about the function and you want to shift the blame on them to save your own family,” he added.