CM’S OBJECTION HAS NO EFFECT ON TAKSAL PLAN

AMRITSAR: Even as Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has objected to setting up a ‘martyrs’ gallery’ inside the Operation Bluestar Memorial at Golden Temple, Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal has decided to go ahead with the ‘kar sewa’ (voluntary service) for this.

As the seminary has started an ‘akhand paath’ at the Bluestar Memorial gurdwara on Tuesday, the kar sewa will begin in its basement on Thursday morning.

On Tuesday, the CM had expressed his displeasure saying the Damdami Taksal is trying foment trouble and is disrupting peace by such activities.

The seminary after getting permission from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to set up the gallery has sent invites to many Sikh organisations and is expecting a sizeable gathering at the Bluestar Memorial.

From Thursday, an akhand paath will also start in the remembrance of militant preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and others killed during the Operation Bluestar.

SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar and other office-bearers are likely to be present during the ceremony on Thursday.

The Taksal chief could not be contacted for comment.

Amarinder, while responding to a query on Tuesday, had accused the Sikh outfit of “trying to foment trouble and disturb the state’s peace through such steps”.

The Taksal also plans to propagate its version of Operation Bluestar through a multimedia show at the gallery.

“I was against this from Day 1 and had asked them (Taksal) not to indulge in such activities as they may provoke the people,” said the CM. He had claimed that he had also warned the previous SAD-BJP regime about the possibility of such activities disturbing the hard-earned peace of Punjab.