Sikh body take on Badals critically over misguiding reference to 1980s era

Amritsar, Punjab: Striking a discordant note, the Dal Khalsa today lashed out at the SAD and Congress leaders -the main players of Punjab polity for referring to the era of 80’s as “dark days” reminding them that it was the days of struggle against state repression and injustice besides upholding national honour of Panth.

Blaming both the parties for pursuing divisive and bad politics, party head H S Dhami and spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said those were the days of reminiscence of Sikhi spirit.

They further said both Senior Badal and Captain Amrinder Singh were loosely associated with the Sikh struggle when it was at its peak. “They were in touch with the people who were main players of the movement. Now, with the struggle at its low, both have started singing different tunes”. They said it was altogether a different thing that their intentions has never been sincere and remained questionable then and now.

They said Sikhs at large were unhappy with the recent developments as they see the community going nowhere even after facing hardships and sacrificing lives of its youth.

Justifying the mission for Khalistan, they said like every nation, Sikhs too want to shape their own destiny. They further said as per Supreme Court ruling, if pursued peacefully it’s neither illegal nor seditious. They said the demand for Khalistan was first raised by the SGPC in its resolution passed before partition in 1946, hence it can’t be brushed away by wrongly attributing to Congress. Moreover, concept of Khalsa rule was rooted in religious ideology of Sikhs as they express their desire for it twice a day in their prayers. “It’s highly objectionable that the historical desire of the community has been reduced to a “bashing” tool by these opportunistic politicians to suit their political expediencies”.

Dhami said the major cause of concern was growing intolerance, hatred and bad blood among Sikh parties and groups that was rendering the youth directionless and spiritless.

Drawing comparisons between Nov 10 congregation and Nov 23 Sadbhawna rally, he said notwithstanding the numerical strength, the crowd assembled at village Chabba was responsive and spirited where as crowd at Bathinda was managed and lacked the spirit. He said daily wagers, NREGA workers and lured crowd can’t save Akali Dal from its political moorings.

Admitting that the Nov 10 congregation at village “Chabba’ was fast losing its steam for obvious reasons, he said the organizer’s doesn’t listened to the saner voices within the community and acted in haste. The poor response by the people to their ‘Punjab bandh call” was testimony that their conduct have failed to win over the hearts of masses. He urged the organizers to do self-introspection.

Slamming Badals for resorting to cheap and old tactics of beating every opponent and dissenting Sikh with Congress stick, he said terming the Nov 10 congregation as anti-national and engineered by Congress was wrong and misleading as it was represented by all the shades of the Panth. He said the arrest of organizers of the Nov 10 event under sedition charges was unwarranted and it defies the spirit of democracy and rule of law.