Badals made Saini scapegoat to cool down tempers, says Bajwa

Tuesday, 27/10/2015

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JALANDHAR: Terming the removal of Sumedh Singh Saini as the director general of police (DGP) eyewash, Punjab Congress leaders on Monday demanded action against the “real culprits” behind sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and those responsible for attacking Sikh protesters at Bargari in Faridkot district.

“Saini has been made a scapegoat in a desperate attempt to cool down tempers against the state government. But the former DGP was only a pistol. Parkash Singh Badal has punished the pistol but has spared the hands that triggered the bullets to kill peaceful protesters. It’s not justice to those who were killed by the bullets of the police controlled by home minister Sukhbir Singh Badal,” said state Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa while addressing a press conference here.

Comparing the incidents of thrashing of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders by Sikh protesters with that of slain Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, Bajwa said: “Whatever is happening in Punjab is the same what had happed in Libya a few years ago.”

“Around two years back, when I stated saying that that the Badals would meet the fate Gaddafi met due to their misrule and misdeeds, people used to laugh at me. Now, the Badals and their puppets are going to meet the same fate. People have started cornering them and thrashing them in the public. It’s a different matter that the Badals are under a heavy security cover. I challenge them to forgo the security for a few minutes and see what people do to them,” said Bajwa.

He also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose President’s rule in Punjab. “The only solution to the present situations is that either the CM, his deputy and their puppet Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Avtar Singh Makkar resign or the government is suspended,” reads the letter.

Addressing a separate press conference, former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal lambasted the Badals for using Saini to save their own skin. “The government has failed to maintain law and order in the state. Before the Bargari incidence also, there was a complete lawlessness in the state and it was only the jathedars who were running the show,” said Bhattal.

“Badals failed every institution of the Sikhs be it was the Akal Takht or the SGPC. They used these institutions of high value for personal promotion and now the result of this is for everyone to see. I have not seen such a huge resentment against any government in my political career,” said Bhattal.

She also demanded immediate imposition of the President’s rule in the state. “If the Union government delays imposition of President’s rule, Punjab is likely to become an anarchist state,” she said.