20 august 2024 : The holding of political rallies to mark the Rakhar Punia Mela and Sacha Guru Ladho Re Diwas at this historic town, which is situated couple of km off GT Road, on Monday showed the emergence of new players on the state’s political scene.
The rallies organised by AAP and one by supporters of jailed Khadoor Sahib MP and radical preacher Amritpal Singh were at the forefront. The SAD stage was a bit distant from the approach road. The Congress did not hold any rally.
Amritpal’s mother Balwinder Kaur, family members and other leaders managed the stage. One Chamkaur Singh, in his address, said even as they loved the whole of India, they have to contribute by every means to secure the jailed leader’s release. The majority of speakers stressed on the unbearable pain caused by the sacrilege incidents and the perpetrators going unpunished. They gave a call for maintaining vigil at gurdwaras to prevent any recurrence.
At the entrance of the town was situated the beautifully decorated and complete with security ‘pandal’ of AAP where Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann announced the opening of jobs to women in the fire brigade by changing its old norms. He added that it would be a first in the country. He asserted that women were safe in Punjab and at present, eight Deputy Commissioners, besides six SSPs, in the state were women.
He lashed out at SAD for not taking up Punjab-specific issues in Parliament despite seeking votes in the name of Panth. Citing an instance from December 26, 2018, when he — as a Lok Sabha member from Sangrur — had to appeal to then Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to pay homage to the younger sons of 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, on their martyrdom day. The request was agreed to.
Flaying the BJP, he advised its leaders to review the governance of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana where the saffron party is in power. Citing the imposition of curfew in Nuh district of Haryana, Bhagwant Mann said curfews were imposed during religious festivals in these states.
From the SAD stage, Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia called for taking out a march from Amritsar to Delhi to seek the release of Bandi Singhs. He asked the Centre to justify the release of the rapists of Bilkis Bano and repeated parole to criminal Gurmeet Ram Rahim and denying the same to Bandi Singhs.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal today appealed to the Panth to recognise the “betrayers” in their midst, saying “these people are in league with agencies who want to weaken SAD as well as Sikh institutions”.
He said a separate gurdwara committee for Haryana was formed to weaken SGPC. “Now, we have also witnessed how the RSS and BJP have taken over Sri Hazur Sahib Committee and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. If we do not stop this attack on our institutions, we will have only ourselves to blame.”
Sukhbir claimed that 17 instances of sacrilege occurred during the AAP government in Punjab but CM Bhagwant Mann had never spoken against them and said that the CM had himself violated the sanctity of a shrine in Sultanpur Lodhi by ordering the police to take control of it.
“Both the Congress and AAP made tall promises but failed to waive debts of farmers or free the state of drugs,” he said. Sukhbir said no development had occurred in the past more than seven years. “All development you see happened during the SAD tenure of Parkash Singh Badal be it creation of expressways, thermal plants which made the state power surplus, airports or novel social welfare schemes like atta-daal, shagun and SC scholarships. He said the SC Scholarship Scheme had led to the imparting of free education to 3.5 lakh Dalit students annually during SAD tenure.
Bandi Singh Gurdeep Singh Khera, in his address, slammed Opposition Akali leaders Jasbir Singh Rode and Baljit Singh Daduwal whom he blamed for working as cohorts of central agencies and even politicians like Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Iqbal Singh Lalpura. He also made a scathing attack on Prem Singh Chandumajra alleging that he had led the police inside the Golden Temple during Operation Black Thunder.
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami spoke on the steps taken to seek the release of the Bandi Singhs and how some members including Baljit Singh Daduwal and Harmeet Singh Kalka had sabotaged the move.