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Bargari sacrilege: Minister-led govt panel meets parallel Akal Takht jathedar, gives written clarification
The committee was constituted by the Amarinder Singh-led government to negotiate with the Bargari Insaaf Morcha on the desecration issue
The Punjab government committee led by cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa on Friday met Sarbat Khalsa-appointed parallel Akal Takht acting jathedar Dhian Singh Mand to give a written clarification over the Congress regime’s alleged failure to provide justice in the Bargari sacrilege incidents.
The panel, which also comprises minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and ruling party MLAs Harminder Singh Gill, Kushaldeep Singh Kikki Dhillon and Kulbir Singh Zira, was constituted by the government to negotiate with the Bargari Insaaf Morcha. They were summoned by Mand to the Takht to clarify on the issue.
MLAs Gill and Zira besides local Congress leaders, including party’s district chief Bhagwant Pal Singh Sachar, accompanied minister Bajwa to the Akal Takht on Friday.
After the panel declared (in December 2018) that the government had accepted all their demands, the Mand-led morcha announced to end the six-month-long protest at Bargari village of Farikot district where sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib took place.
Nearly two-and-a-half years later, Mand accused the government of deceiving them and summoned the panel to the Takht thrice but the committee did not turn up on first two occasions.
Minister Bajwa on Friday handed over a sealed letter to Mand who was accompanied by radical Sikh leaders like Jarnail Singh Sakhira. The contents of the letter were not made public. Earlier, refusing to appear before the parallel jathedar publicly at the Akal Takht, the panel had issued an open letter to Mand, putting the ball in the CM’s court.
“You are well aware of the fact that we were working as a link between you and the chief minister. Whichever assurances we gave to you were on behalf of the CM. Probing the sacrilege cases is the domain of the state home department which is under the CM’s control,” they had said.
