Tarn Taran bypoll battle heats up as SAD chief Sukhbir Badal attacks Congress, AAP
Sharpening his attack on the Congress, the president of SAD, Sukhbir Singh Badal, said that the 1984 Sikh genocide has not been forgotten by the nation.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing him of orchestrating a communal and politically motivated crackdown against the SAD and the Sikh community.
He termed the developments as “worse than the draconian days of the Emergency.”
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Badal alleged that Kejriwal had committed “heinous sacrilege” by using police forces to prevent Sikh devotees, including Akali workers, from offering prayers at Gurdwara Sri Amb Sahib in Mohali Wednesday morning.
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Earlier in the day, Badal courted arrest along with numerous SAD workers while protesting against what he called the false and vindictive case filed against senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia. “This is nothing but Kejriwal’s vendetta politics driven by hatred for Punjabis, designed to divert attention from his government’s corruption and loot in Punjab,” he charged.
According to Badal, large contingents of police blocked Akali workers from visiting the Gurdwara and forcibly detained them. SAD leaders from Majha were reportedly prevented from crossing the Beas bridge, with police checkpoints set up across Punjab to stop them from reaching Mohali.
“Everything in Punjab is being directed by Arvind Kejriwal, a communal and non-Punjabi leader. These police cases are merely a smokescreen. The real issue is his hatred for Punjabis,” said Badal while addressing the media from inside a police van.
He further claimed, “Kejriwal and his gang have shamelessly revealed their dictatorial mindset, reviving memories of the Emergency. Today, just like then, Punjabis — and especially Akalis — are the primary targets.”
Badal emphasized that peaceful political dissent is being brutally suppressed. “Not even during the Emergency or the historic Jaito Da Morcha were Sikhs stopped from visiting their sacred shrines, but today Akali workers and I were prevented from paying obeisance at Gurdwara Amb Sahib.”
Calling the incident a “broad daylight murder of democracy, civil liberties, and human rights,” Badal questioned the silence of human rights advocates. “Where are the so-called champions of human rights today,” he asked.
“I am not afraid of repression personally — resistance runs in my blood. But I strongly warn the government against targeting our peaceful workers,” he declared.
He also pledged that the SAD would intensify its campaign against the AAP government’s “loot, misrule, and political vendetta.” Referring to the planned protest in Ludhiana on July 15 against the alleged illegal grab of 40,000 acres of land, he said the SAD would resist “AAP’s efforts to fill its coffers at the cost of Punjabis.”
Badal called on all Punjabis to unite against Kejriwal’s misrule and “liberate Punjab from the grip of a Delhi-based party that has bankrupted the state and halted all development.”
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