CHANDIGARH: The Working Committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today demanded a judicial probe into the desecration of the statue of Baba Saheb B R Ambedkar on Republic Day in Amritsar besides approving printing of 10, 000 more copies as part of the membership drive of the SAD.The SAD working committee kept silence on continuing membership of party under 7 member committee formed by Akal Takht.
Disclosing the decisions taken by the Working Committee which was presided over by Working President Balwinder Singh Bhundar, senior leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said the Working Committee took strong umbrage at the manner in which a conspiracy had been put into effect to divide various communities in Punjab by instigating the desecration of the statue of Baba Saheb B R Ambedkar in Amritsar.
Dr Cheema said this seemed to be part of a decade long conspiracy to spoil peace and communal harmony in Punjab adding “as part of this conspiracy earlier religious granths were desecrated”. He said the Working Committee was clear that only a judicial probe could uncover the masterminds behind this act. “This probe should be initiated at the earliest besides taking action against civil and police officials who had failed in their duty to protect the statue on the occasion of Republic Day when the entire State was in a state of high alert”.
Briefing the Working Committee with regard to the membership drive undertaken by the party, Dr Cheema said as many as 24, 440 copies had been disbursed and that this amounted to 24.44 lakh individual leaflets. He said since there was still a huge demand for more copies, it had been decided to print another 10, 000 copies so that the same could be distributed amongst the party members at the earliest.
Speaking about bogus votes which had been registered for the Shiromani Committee elections, Mr Harjinder Singh Dhami said the matter had been brought to the notice of the Chief Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections Justice (retd) S S Saron. He said a SAD delegation which had met the chief commissioner recently had apprised him that as per the Sikh rehat maryada only those persons against whose names Singh and Kaur had been suffixed could vote in the SGPC polls. Mr Dhami said the delegation had also informed the Commissioner that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had ordered booth level officers to register votes from the assembly voting lists due to which migrants and even people from other faiths had been registered as voters for the SGPC elections. “We have demanded that all these bogus votes be reviewed and deleted. We will also give our formal objections on this account”, he added.