CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh and his political outfit Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress, while projecting SAD as the only force capable of 'saving Punjab'.
Amid talks in political circles of a possible re-alliance between the SAD and the BJP, he, however, did not utter a word about the BJP in his speech.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who launched the second phase of the party’s Punjab Bachao campaign at a public meeting at Malot, said: “The forces who assassinated Sant Harchand Singh Longowal and Bhai Shaminder Singh and who attacked Gurcharan Singh Tohra have become active again”.
Giving a clarion call to save Punjab from these forces, Badal said, "Let us unite to shun those who have taken on new identities in the garb of devout Sikhs."
"If we do not do this, they will do to you what they have done to me. They will loot your houses and our Gurughar. They will usher in ‘gunda raj’ and destroy the state”.
The rally was Sukhbir’s first political programme after he survived a life-threatening attack in Nanded in Maharashtra on August 13.
He returned to the state on Tuesday and paid obeisance at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo before resuming political activity.
Sukhbir Badal said, "All this is being done to finish off Punjab’s only regional party – the SAD. These persons are stooges of agencies and Delhi-based parties who want to remove the SAD from the politics of Punjab”.
Sukhbir also attacked Amritpal Singh and his outfit, Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), calling it a 'virus' and questioning its right to claim that they represent Punjab and Sikh interests.
He alleged that Amritpal wanted to take Punjab back to the 1980s when no one was safe. He also asked how a person who had come from Dubai as a clean-shaven youth, reinvented himself as the “heir” of Punjab could be trusted.
He said this complete ignorance of the Sikh ‘rehat maryada’ was the reason why Amritpal had used Guru Granth Sahib as a shield during a protest march to a police station.
Badal also claimed that a person who propounded that he was spreading awareness about drugs had no control over his brother, who was a drug addict.
He also alleged that Amritpal’s family had been with the Congress until a few years ago.
Referring to the killing of an alleged associate of Amritpal at Hari Nau village in Faridkot district, Sukhbir claimed the man had been with Amritpal in Dubai and knew about his activities.
He alleged that the man was killed after he threatened to reveal details.
He also claimed Amritpal’s family were born Congressmen and had never protested against the attack on the Golden Temple or the genocide of Sikhs in 1984.
Turning towards the AAP government, Badal also took on chief minister Bhagwant Mann on the occasion.
Calling Mann “Guru Dokhi”, Sukhbir asked why protests were not being lodged against him now. “It’s because all others are united,” he claimed and alleged that the chief minister had visited the Bargari dharna site and Damdama Sahib in a drunken condition and even committed sacrilege against the Guru Sahiban and Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawala.
“He even passed an anti-sacrilege law going against the Sikh ‘maryada ’, but no one challenged him except the SAD."
This shows all these elements are ganging up against the SAD but have nothing to say against Bhagwant Mann or even the Congress party, which attacked the Golden Temple.