CHANDIGARH: Without naming the BJP and the NDA government, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday claimed attempts are being made to drive a wedge between Hindus and Sikhs for disrupting the agrarian protest against the central agri legislations.
“These attempts are being made to turn the farmer agitation into a Sikh versus Hindu conflict. This has started in Delhi and now the forces behind this move want to replicate it in Punjab. The Akali Dal is committed to maintaining peace and communal brotherhood,” Sukhbir told a dharna in Amritsar.
Asserting that the NDA government had not only come down on federalism but also the freedom to protest, he said, things have taken such a turn that those in agreement with the dispensation were `Desh Bhakt’ but anyone speaking against was a ‘desh drohi’.
“Is Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who resigned from the union ministry in protest against the three farm laws, a desh drohi? Can anyone term Parkash Singh Badal, who returned his Padma Vibhushan, a desh drohi?” he asked.
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The farmers are being called extremists solely because they did not agree with the government narrative on the farm laws, he said.
“The Akali Dal was the first to talk about the need for a true federal structure. Then, we were branded as separatists...”
At the same venue, Harsimrat Kaur Badal said it was unfortunate that the government had started calling farmers as naxalites and terrorists just because they were not relenting to its proposals.
Such tactics would not help the Centre, the ex-union minister said.
Releasing the party’s five-point mission statement on its centenary anniversary, Sukhbir announced commitment to Panthic ideals and values as the top priority on being the sole representative of the Khalsa Panth and Punjabis all over the world.
“We have a historic responsibility to perform this role,” he asserted.