Punjab Urban and Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa on Saturday asked former Chief Minister and Akali Dal patron Parkash Singh Badal to reveal as to why Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and his associates were summoned to his residence in September 2015 before Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh was granted pardon.
“This is the key issue relating to the entire sacrilege narrative. It had come out at that time that the Jathedars had been summoned to official residence of Badal to secure pardon for the Dera chief. However, Badal himself must come out on record on this sensitive issue. That it was violation of Sikh Rehat-Maryada is a separate issue. Badal has been five-time CM and has honour of Fakhr-e-Qaum Panth Rattan and as such, it is expected he will only speak the truth,” he said.
Bajwa recalled that the pardon to Dera chief by Akal Takht in the blasphemy case of 2007 was withdrawn following Sikh anger that the Badals continue to face.
He called upon Badal to come out as to why there were no concerted efforts to trace the Bir of Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singhwala on June 1, 2015 whose pages were subsequently found scattered in the streets of nearby Bargari village. The Badal government treated it just as an ordinary crime. In case, the Bir had been traced, the subsequent tragic incidents relating to sacrilege could have been avoided, the Minister said.
He also alleged it was part of the design of Badal and his then Deputy CM, Sukhbir Singh Badal to treat it as a normal crime while it was rooted in Dera Sacha Sauda for whose chief they secured pardon from Akal Takht. Bajwa added it was shocking that even after the heinous crime of sacrilege, no focussed investigation was carried out to trace the culprits. The culprits were arrested only during investigation and that too by the same team only after Capt Amarinder Singh took over as the Chief Minister, he said.
The Minister asserted the SIT was doing its job professionally without any interference from the Amarinder Government. He rubbished the allegation by Badal the final report of this probe will be dictated by Amarinder saying this only betrayed guilt complex.