Show courage to prosecute us, former Punjab CM dares Amarinder Singh

CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday dared his successor Amarinder Singh to demonstrate courage to prosecute and try him in a court of law “if there is any shred of truth in your allegations” on the sacrilege issue.

“If you have moral and political courage, take us to court on the basis of whatever evidence you can cook up against us,” Badal said at a rally organised by his party Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and ally BJP in Abohar town.

The Akali veteran said that Amarinder Singh’s “blasphemous tirade against the SAD on the sacrilege issue is merely an attempt to divert people’s attention away from his own crime of sacrilege by making false promises while swearing on the holy ‘Gutka Sahib’.

“Amarinder Singh is indulging in petty and destructive vendetta politics to divert public attention from the failures of his own government on every front, including farm debt waiver, drug peddling eradication, jobs, and increased old-age pensions.”

Referring to sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 when the SAD-BJP government was in power in Punjab, Badal said: “Guru Granth Sahib is dearer to us than our lives. We can sacrifice millions of Badals and countless millions of Sukhbir Badals just to safeguard the honour, dignity and glory of the sacred Guru Granth Sahib.

“How can those who rolled tanks into the sacred Harmandar Sahib and destroyed Akal Takht Sahib (in Amritsar in 1984) even understand the purity and profound depth of our sentiments and devotion to Guru Granth Sahib?”

The Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission set up by the Congress government had in its report, tabled in the Assembly last month, held police responsible for use of force on protesters in Kotkapura town in 2015. It said the police action was “unprovoked, unwarranted and uncalled for”.

Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu earlier demanded proper probe into the firing.