Radicals piggyback on Sidhana, Sidhu to revive political fortunes
BATHINDA: The Sikh radical fringe has found a cause célèbre in the ongoing farmers’ agitation and is trying to piggyback on Lakha Sidhana and Deep Sidhu, the key suspects in the Republic Day violence cases, to revive its political fortunes in Punjab.
While the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of several farmer unions, distanced itself from both the accused after the January 26 violence in Delhi, religious hardliner fronts like Dal Khalsa, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and the Damdami Taksal rallied behind Sidhana, a gangster-turnedactivist, when he planned a rally at Bathinda’s Mehraj town, the ancestral place of Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, on Tuesday.
These organisations, known for their pro-Khalistan stance, made efforts to garner support for the event and their flirting with the farmers’ protests has raised many an eyebrow in the state’s political landscape.
The youths were seen donning T-shirts with slogans of ‘1984’, highlighting the antiSikh riots and the Operation Bluestar, the storming of the Golden Temple by the army.
Banners with photos of Sidhana and Deep Sidhu dominated the venue.
While the SAD (Amritsar), led by former IPS officer Simranjit Singh Mann, regularly fields candidates in the assembly and parliamentary polls, the Dal Khalsa stays away from taking a direct plunge in electoral politics.
Political observers are of the opinion that with the Punjab assembly polls less than a year away, the hardliners are trying to take a centrestage after already having cashed in on widespread protests against the sacrilege of the Sikh holy book in 2015. Interestingly, the dais during Tuesday’s rally did not have any farmer leader even as it was called to support the farmers’ stir.
Police question Mehraj resident
A Mehraj resident Bhola Singh, whose bike was used to drive a fugitive Lakha Sidhana to the protest rally, was questioned briefly by the police on Wednesday.
Dal Khalsa leader Hardeep Singh Mehraj rushed to Rampura Sadar police station with other residents and threatened to gherao if Bhola is not released immediately.
No case was registered in the matter.