AMRITSAR: Akali supremo and five times Chief Minister of Punjab Mr Parkash Singh Badal today warned against ‘dangerous conspiracies’ to install government stooges as “neo-Masands” in sacred Gurdhams.
“Devious conspiracies are at work to weaken the Khalsa Panth and dilute its separate and unique religious identity. Our sacred Gurdhams and their unique religious ideology are being targeted. The quom will have to guard against attempts by powerful agencies to create dissensions, disunity and mutual distrust within the community by using the age-old tactics of Trojan horses”
The senior statesman was addressing a massive Panthic gathering at Manji Sahib Diwan Hall in Sri Harmandar Sahib Complex to protest the painful incidents of sacrilege including the outrage at the sanctum sanctorum of Shri Harmandar Sahib. Mr Badal also warned against the dangerous conspiracy to put Punjab on flames again through communal polarization.
“The hard earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony is being put to torch by powers that be. They will finally blame the flames on Punjabis themselves in a repeat of 1980s and 90s simply to further vested petty political interests”, he said during the ‘panthic ikath’ which also demanded a probe into the recent sacrilege incidents by a sitting judge of the high court.
Speaking on the occasion, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said the Congress party had done politics on the issue of sacrilege for five years and did nothing to nab those behind this heinous act. He said now again a conspiracy was afoot to spoil the peace of the State and create divisions in society for political motives alone. He said despite nabbing culprits who had committed sacrileges at Sri Anandpur Sahib on September 13 and at Sri Darbar Sahib on December 15, both last year, the government had done nothing to uncover the conspiracy behind the two incidents. He said even in the case of the Sri Harmandar Sahib sacrilege, no attempt was made to identify the accused till now.
Asking the people how they could expect justice from the Congress party which had rolled tanks and mortar guns into Sri Darbar Sahib and had carried out genocide against the Sikh community in 1984, the SAD President said “it is of utmost importance to strengthen the panth as well as its representative party – the SAD”.
Mr Sukhbir Badal also castigated the BJP for trying to wrest control of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC). He said it was shocking that Mr Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who was heading the DSGMC at the time, had joined the BJP. “This amounts to using the bodies of the 800 martyrs of the Kisan Andolan to further one’s political career. He should be ashamed of it”. The SAD President also expressed shock at opportunists who were following Sirsa’s example and joining the BJP or aligning with it in some manner or the other. “I want to ask the Kisan organizations and even Balbir Singh Rajewal. You used to criticize us despite the fact that we quit the union ministry and even left the NDA alliance but now even you are cosying up to the BJP”.
Sri Akal Takth Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh while speaking said the Sikh community would not tolerate any interference in its religious affairs and urged the community to strengthen the Akal Takht and the SGPC. “The SAD will get stronger automatically”. SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami said the community would never forgive Mr Sirsa and others like him who had derived their strength from Sikh religious institutions and then backstabbed them. He also asserted that the BJP was interfering in the administration of Takth Sri Hazur Sahib and Takth Sri Patna Sahib.