THE FORCES THAT DESTROYED PEACE OF PUNJAB IN THE 1980S HAVE BECOME ACTIVE IN THE GUISE OF DEVOUT SIKHS: SUKHBIR BADAL

Raj Sadosh/Malout/Abohar.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the same forces who had destroyed the peace of Punjab in the 1980s had become active in the guise of devout Sikhs, even as he announced that he was ready to pay the ultimate sacrifice to safeguard the legacy of ‘Sarbat da Bhala’ as well as the core SAD policy of ensuring peace and communal harmony at all costs.

The SAD president, who launched the second phase of the party’s Punjab Bachao campaign at a mammoth public meeting here, said “the forces who assassinated Sant Harchand Singh Longowal and Bhai Shaminder Singh and who attacked S Gurcharan Singh Tohra, have become active again”. Giving a clarion call to save Punjab from these forces, Mr Badal said “let us unite to shun those who have taken on new identities in the garb of devout Sikhs. If we do not do this, they will do to you what they have done to me. They will loot your houses and our Gurughar. They will usher in ‘gunda raj’ and destroy the State”.

Badal also took on Bhai Amritpal Singh and asserted the latter wanted to take Punjab back to the 1980s when no one was safe. He also asked how such a person who had come from Dubai as a clean-shaven youth and reinvented himself as the “heir” of Punjab could be trusted. He said this complete ignorance of the Sikh ‘rehat maryada’ was the reason why Amritpal had used Sri Guru Granth Sahib as a shield during a protest march to a police station. Mr Badal also asked how a person who propounded that he was spreading awareness about drugs had no control over his brother who was a drug addict. He said it was also a fact that Amritpal was accused of being part of a conspiracy to murder a Waris Punjab De activist Gurpreet Singh Harinau who had challenged to expose him. The SAD president also highlighted how Amritpal’s family were born Congressmen and had never protested against the attack of Sri Darbar Sahib or the genocide of Sikhs in 1984.