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Ashutosh Imbroglio
Panth sets deadline for Badal to act, or face Sikh wrath
Sikhs want action against DC, SSP; urge Akal Takht to summon Badal
WSN Bureau
 CHOWK
MEHTA/AMRITSAR: Anger and rage among the Sikh Nation showed no signs
of abating, and spurred by the apathy of the ruling Akali Dal-BJP
alliance, a number of panthic organisations served an ultimatum upon
the Badal Government to take action against BJP leader, MLA Harish
Bedi, Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner who had ordered the unprovoked
firing on a protesting Sikh crowd and the district police chief who
was more keen to facilitate the Ashutosh function than about
maintaining peace.
As the panthic
forums led by Damdami Taksal set December 29 as the deadline for
action by the state government, a few other organisations gave a
call for boycott of Prakash Singh Badal for utterly failing to
protect panthic interests and instead helping troublemakers like
Ashutosh.
Demands also
rang out to summon Prakash Singh Badal to Akal Takht for allowing
Ashutosh's Divya Jyoti Jagrity Sansthan to hold a conclave in
Ludhiana despite clear knowledge tat it will hurt the Sikh
sentiments.
Former Akal
Takht jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode announced that Sikh organisations
will also be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek his
intervention in checking dera culture in Punjab and compared the
recent violence with the bloody Vaisakhi of 1978 when Nirankaris had
killed 13 Sikhs.
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Trigger happy police gets clean chit from CM
Disregarding
the widespread anger among the Sikhs, CM Prakash Singh Badal has
given a clean chit to the police in Ludhiana violence case, thus
rendering a probe by ADG Kuldeep Singh as ere eyewash. The probe
was to fix responsibility for the violence when Sikhs protested
against Ashutosh's gathering. meanwhile, the SAD-BJP government
has gone all mum on the clashes between migrants and the police
on December 3 and 4.
Deputy
Commissioner Vikas Garg and ADGP KUldip Singh were hard put to
defend their status after the CM's clean chit. Sikhs' anger is
palpable because the police hardly waited for anything to happen
and was too trigger happy when it fired.
A police
officer said if the panthic protestors had been allowed to move
another 500 metre forward there would have been a major law and
order situationand a clash between Ashutosh followers and Sikhs
would have been imminent. |
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Damdami Taksal
chief Harnam Singh Dhumma's ultimatum came on Saturday. He said if
the government fails to do the needful, it should be prepared for an
intensive and long dranw struggle by the Sikhs as the Damdami Taksal,
Sant Samaj, Dal Khalsa, Shiromani Sikh Council and Sikh Students
Federation will then join hands to hold a protest march from
Fatehgarh Sahib to
Chandigarh.
Akal Takht
jathedar Giania Gurbachan Singh lost little time in declaring that
Badal will not be summoned at the Akal Takht even as panthic bodies
decided to file another petition before the Akal Takht for summoning
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Paramjit
Singh Sarna for "playing into the hands" of the Congress by creating
"unnecessary" Panthic controversies, including that of the Dasam
Granth.
About 300
representatives of the Panthic bodies had met to chalk out a
strategy after the Ludhiana incident, where a Sikh participant,
Darshan Singh Lohara, in a protest march against the DJJS Satsang
was killed in police firing. Dhumma minced no words in drawing a
parallel with the 1978 episode and said that in granting permission
for the Satsang, Badal had tried to repeat what he did in the same
capacity as CM by allowing a Nirankari march in Amritsar in 1978.
The SGPC
leadership also came in for flak for failing in its fundamental duty
of preaching the Sikh religion due to which the Dera cult was
growing by leaps and bounds. The undoing of the SGPC is costing
Sikhs dear, as they have to shed blood for stopping anti-Sikh
propaganda by certain self-styled godmen, panthic leaders said.
Former Akal
Takht Jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode, Khalsa Action Committee convener
Mohkam Singh, Dal Khalsa general secretary Kanwarpal Singh and Sant
Samaj member Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale were prominent among those
present at the meeting that witnessed participation by some 27 Sikh
organizations at Chowk Mehta, the headquarters of Damdami Taksal.
The unanimous
statement passed at the meeting said, "Badal has failed to protect
the rights of the Sikhs and is liable to be summoned at the Takht."
Dal Khalsa
spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh Khalsa said it was well known that the
ruling Akalis were under the pressure of BJP to allow Ashutosh's
congregation.
Meanwhile, at a
meeting at Ludhiana's Gurdwara Kalgidhar Sahib, some Sikh bodies
urged the community to boycott Parkash Singh Badal holding him
responsible for the December 5 clashes. R P Singh, spokesperson of
the Akhand Keertani Jatha, said it was unanimously decided that
Badal is responsible for the violence.
The bodies also
demanded martyr status for Darshan Singh, an auto-rickshaw driver,
who had died of police firing in the
Ludhiana
violence. They demanded a CBI probe into the firing and an FIR
against BJP's Harish Bedi, his son Honey Bedi and police officers
responsible for the firing.
“Sikh
institutions like the Akal Takht and SGPC are being ruled by corrupt
politicians and we will launch a movement to purge these
institutions. We have also called in support of the Sikh diaspora
who have expressed their solidarity with us to sustain this movement
at the international level,” RP Singh added.
The bodies that
participated in the meet included Tat Khalsa, Akhand Keertani Jatha,
Dal Khalsa and Delhi Gurdwara Management Commitee and others.
16
December 2009
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