The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday condemned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for disrespecting Sikh religion and ethos by indulging in a sham “sewa” at the Darbar Sahib.
“It appeared Kejriwal is self-obsessed about his own publicity and conducted the entire visit to the Darbar Sahib like a PR exercise…All he indulged in were photo ops,” said SAD MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and secretary Daljit Singh Cheema while condemning Kejriwal for disrespecting the “baani” and “baana” of the Sikh community.
SAD leaders said it was clear that Kejriwal did not have any remorse about the sacrilege committed by him and his party by comparing the Guru Granth Sahib with its youth manifesto. “After this blasphemy was committed by him, Kejriwal chose to remain silent and even refused to express remorse for the same. Only after pressure mounted on him from outside and inside and widespread condemnation from the Sikh community did the Delhi Chief Minister agree to come to Darbar Sahib,” they said.
“But even then he expressly announced that he would not apologise for his sacrilegious acts and finally came on Monday after two weeks of the incident after cancelling his visit once,” he added.
They said that if Kejriwal had felt any genuine remorse he would have come to the Darbar Sahab and asked forgiveness immediately.
“Today Kejriwal made a mockery of doing sewa and even conducted a sham sewa by washing utensils which were already clean. This shows his arrogant nature and proves that he came to the Darbar Sahab as a chief minister,” he said.