Cong, SAD, AAP take swipes at each other over sacrilege incidents
PINNING BLAME Says govt intentionally leaked the Ranjit panel report so that culprits could save their skin by intimidating witnesses
BABABAKALA: The Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party trained guns on each other on the issue of sacrilege of religious texts in Punjab.
Addressing a public rally at Baba Bakala, a historic town 40 km near Amritsar, on Rakhar Punia, Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar said the Badal family was fooling innocent people in the name of religion. The Badal family is scared as the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report will be out soon, the Gurdaspur MP said.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that “parallel jathedars” had colluded with the Congress to weaken the ‘panth’. He alleged that some Congress ministers were working with “parallel jathedars” and trying to implicate the SAD in incidents of sacrilege. AAP MP Bhagwant Mann, on his part, claimed the Congress government had “intentionally leaked the commission report so that the Akalis could save themselves by intimidating the witnesses”.
Mann alleged the Congress was shielding the Badals. The AAP leader attacked the government for ignoring the promise of loan waiver.
BABA BAKALA (AMRITSAR) : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann said on Sunday that the Congress government in the state has deliberately leaked the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on sacrilege incidents so that the Akalis could save themselves by intimidating the witnesses.
The panel report will be tabled in the assembly on Monday.
Addressing a political conference on Rakhar Punia at Baba Bakala, a historic town nearly 40km from Amritsar, Mann said Amarinder Singh-led government is saving the Badals from punishment for their involvement in Bargari sacrilege and Majithia for patronising drug trade in Punjab.
“The farmers are feeling cheated as Amarinder has backtracked from his promise of loan waiver. The Punjab youth is still waiting for jobs and smart phones while industrialists are feeling hapless in the absence of seriousness on part of the government to deliver,” he said
AAP is a party of volunteers which came into being under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal to cleanse the administrative and political system, Mann said.
“Anybody breaking party discipline will face the consequences,” he said.
Leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema, said even as the Congress came to power one-anda-half years ago it is has turned a blind eye to the promises it made in its election manifesto. He said AAP has demanded live telecast of the proceedings when the report on Bargari sacrilege is tabled in the assembly. “The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) does not have any right to annul the commission’s report,” he said.
AAP state co-president Balbir Singh said crime has increased during the Congress regime. “While the farmers in Punjab are committing suicides, the youth is in the grip of drugs due to lack of employment opportunities. Despite the declining development graph in the state, ministers are busy filling their own pockets,” he said.
Faridkot MP Sadhu Singh, MLAs Kultar Singh Sandhwan (Kotkapura), Kulwant Singh Pandori (Mehal Kalan), AAP state president (youth wing) Manjinder Singh besides incharges of all party wings were present on the occasion.