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Harsimrat demands NIA probe into both assassination bids on Sukhbir
Both incidents need to be investigated together to uncover the conspirators and determine whether there was a larger conspiracy to eliminate the SAD president and weaken the party, said Harsimrat
Bathinda MP and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Sunday said she had written to Union home minister Amit Shah seeking an NIA investigation into the two assassination attempts on her husband and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Addressing a gathering at Guru Har Sahai in Ferozepur during the second phase of the SAD’s “Punjab Bachao” rallies, Harsimrat said an NIA probe was required into both the December 2024 attack on Sukhbir at the Golden Temple and the recent attack on him in Maharashtra’s Nanded.
“Both incidents need to be investigated together to uncover the conspirators and determine whether there was a larger conspiracy to eliminate the SAD president and weaken the party,” she said.
Referring to the 2024 attack at Golden Temple, she alleged that the assailant had been facilitated by a police officer and was granted bail within three months. She described the attacker as an “ISI agent” and said these circumstances strengthened the case for an NIA probe.
On the Nanded incident, Harsimrat said the assailant, allegedly posing as a Nihang, initially appeared to escort Sukhbir while he was coming down the stairs of Gurdwara Mata Sahib Devaan Ji before turning around and attacking him.
“Such a cowardly act cannot be done by a true Sikh in a place of worship,” she said, calling for an investigation into the attack and those who may have sponsored or facilitated it.
The Bathinda MP also displayed a post-surgery photograph of Sukhbir’s severely injured arm, saying the wound required more than 150 stitches.
Harsimrat alleged that anti-Guru and anti-national elements were attempting to disturb Punjab’s hard-won peace and create divisions in society. However, she asserted that the attacks would not weaken the SAD.
“Sukhbir Badal will rebound even stronger than before,” she said, adding that the SAD president was in “chardikala” after his discharge from hospital.
“Our strength, our pillar, our everything is our Guru. So now, I am challenging these divisive forces — the more you try to attack us and finish us, the stronger we will emerge,” she said.
Addressing the gathering amid slogans in support of Sukhbir, Harsimrat appealed to Punjabis to resolve that Punjab’s resources and treasury should be used for the welfare and aspirations of its people.
She called for government employment opportunities to be prioritised for Punjabis and attacked the Aam Aadmi Party government over what she described as a prevailing “gangster rule” in the state.
She also appealed to voters to support the SAD, accusing both the Congress and AAP of betraying Punjab after making promises to the people.
SAD constituency in-charge and senior leader Vardev Singh Mann alleged that ₹75 crore earmarked by the previous SAD government for a new sewerage system had not been released by the subsequent Congress government, leaving Ferozepur city with a serious civic problem.
Mann demanded a fresh sewerage system and restoration of ownership rights to farmers cultivating land along the Sutlej, which he said had been granted during former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s tenure but subsequently withdrawn.
He also assured that, if the SAD returned to power, the Guru Har Sahai constituency would get a girls’ college and a hospital.
