Punjab Congress on Sunday lambasted the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal for shedding crocodile tears over the issue of CBI filing the closure report in the Mohali court in connection with the Bargari sacrilege case against three followers of Dera Sacha Sauda in the aftermath of the killing of Dera follower Mohinderpal Bittu in Nabha high security jail.
“If Sukhbir Badal is feeling so agitated over the closure report by the CBI, he should immediately ask Harsimrat Kaur Badal to resign from the Union Cabinet as the CBI falls under the Central Government purview,” said Punjab Cabinet Minister and senior Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and party MLAs in a joint statement.
Randhawa, along with party MLAs Kushaldeep Singh Kikki Dhillon, Raja Amarinder Singh Warring, Harpartap Singh Ajnala, Fatehjung Singh Bajwa, Kulbir Singh Zira and Barindermeet Singh Pahra, challenged the SAD chief to match his words with concrete action in this regard.
Taking the attack right into the SAD ranks, Randhawa said that the actual crux of the matter is that the CBI is protecting the Badals who are the main conspirators in the case. “They hatched a deep-rooted conspiracy to seek votes of Dera premis (followers). In 2012, the Badal Government withdraw charge-sheet filed in Bathinda Court in Guru Gobind Singh Swang case against Ram Rahim mere five days prior to Assembly election to please the Dera premis,” he pointed.
Alleging that the CBI is working as a puppet in this case, the Congress leaders stated that the premier agency did not investigate the case properly and come in to action only when Punjab Police’s SIT, headed by RS Khatra, cracked the case and arrested the accused. “We already had apprehensions about the intentions of CBI. For this very reason, Punjab Government withdrew the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan Police firing cases from the CBI,” said Randhawa.
He said that it was beyond comprehension that what force Sukhbir to still maintain ties with the BJP whose government in neighbouring Haryana is considering parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief just to garner votes in view of the impending Assembly polls.
Warning Sukhbir that he can't avoid justice on this very emotional issue, Randhawa said that every single soul in Punjab knows who was responsible for the sacrilege incident and the events following smeared with blood of innocent protestors. The party leaders also reminded the SAD president that the latter cannot befool the public on the issue anymore and the doomsday for the Akalis is fast approaching as they are the guilty ones in the eyes of the Sikh panth.
Meanwhile, Punjab Ekta Party (PEP) president and Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira alleged that the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) has filed closure report in the Mohali CBI court in two cases of sacrilege registered against Dera Sacha Sauda followers under pressure from the SAD and BJP.
He said that the BJP is hell bent to appease Dera leaders with an eye on Dera support during assembly elections in Haryana later this year.
He alleged that the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had also stabbed Sikh community in the back by misleading them on probe in the sacrilege cases as he didn’t exercise any legal and administrative steps to implement the Punjab Vidhan Sabha resolution and allowed cases to collapse.
“I am always convinced that Capt Amarinder is working to protect Badal family in the sacrilege cases and also working as spokesman of BJP,” said Khaira adding that even on the issue of SYL canal, “Capt Amarinder seems standing on the side of BJP to give them benefit in the Haryana assembly elections”.
At the same time, Khaira sought an explanation from the Badals on their role in the BJP's attempts to bail out Dera followers of sacrilege charges. He reminded that it was Sukhbir Badal who had forced Akal Takht to exonerate Dera chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh and now his party is in alliance with BJP in Haryana.