Punjab CM Badal injured in shoe attack, Sikh radical’s kin arrested
BADAL LATER SAID THE INCIDENT PROVED AKALI DAL’S POLITICAL RIVALS HAD “LOST THE GAME” AND WANTED TO “SCUTTLE A PEACEFUL, FREE AND FAIR POLL”
Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, 89, was injured in the eye when a man hurled a shoe at him during an election campaign at Ratta Khera village in his assembly constituency, Lambi, in Muktsar district on Wednesday.
Eyewitnesses said Badal’s eye bled after his spectacles broke with the impact of the shoe. He was immediately escorted out of the venue.
The shoe-thrower was arrested and identified as Gurbachan Singh, reportedly a relative of Sikh radical leader Amrik Singh Ajnala. “He (Gurbachan) appeared to be upset over the sacrilege incidents which took place in Punjab,” said Muktsar senior superintendent of police Dhruman H Nimbale.
In a statement later, Badal said the incident proved “beyond doubt” that Akali Dal’s political rivals had “lost the game” and wanted to “scuttle a peaceful, free and fair poll.”
As per the release by his office, Badal said the person behind the incident is not even from Lambi. Police said he belongs to Jhurd Khera village near Abohar in Fazilka district.
Badal’s statement also said that “as father figure in the state,” he would “continue to walk the path of patience, peace and communal harmony”. “Behind such incidents are people who want to set Punjab on flames again and push the youth of Punjab back into the jaws of bloodshed…” Badal said. These desperate elements, he said, have the backing of “our political rivals” who are increasingly turning desperate.
Punjab goes to the polls on February 4 and Badal’s SAD and ally BJP are up against the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). But memory of a series of incidents involving the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib last year, and alleged government inactivity over the case has angered many locals.
A few days ago, a group of people threw stones at the cavalcade of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in his constituency, Jalalabad, in Fazilka district, leaving four Akali supporters injured.