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Special session on sacrilege law attempt by AAP to cover its failures: Warring
The AAP government has convened a special session to amend the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008, and introduce stricter punishment, including life imprisonment, for sacrilege of the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Sunday said the special assembly session convened by the AAP government on April 13 to enact a law against sacrilege was only an attempt to “cover up its failure” in punishing the guilty even after being in power for four years.
The Bhagwant Mann government has convened a special session to amend the Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008, and introduce stricter punishment, including life imprisonment, for sacrilege of the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib.
The state Congress president asked why the AAP had “failed to punish” those responsible for sacrilege and the subsequent killing of protesters. He was referring to the series of sacrilege incidents in 2015, during the tenure SAD-BJP government, the protests that followed and the killing of two protesters in police firing at Behbal Kalan.
“The special session will be yet another theatrical presentation by the AAP, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” he remarked, alleging that the AAP had used special sessions to “deflect public attention and wriggle through difficult situations” from time to time.
Had the AAP government’s intentions been sincere, it would have held deliberations with stakeholders, scholars and legal experts before drafting a law that held not only emotional and sentimental significance for the Punjabi community but also long-term future implications, he said.
Warring further alleged that there was “open understanding” between the AAP and the SAD with the patronage of the BJP on the issue.
“Otherwise why would the AAP government not take any action against the guilty, when SAD president Sukhbir Badal himself confessed to the guilt in front of the Akal Takht?” he asked.
The PCC president reminded the AAP leaders, particularly its supremo Arvind Kejriwal, about their claims before the 2022 assembly elections that those guilty of sacrilege will be punished within 24 hours. But four years had passed and the guilty were roaming scot-free, Warring said, adding that merely enacting laws did not deter if there was no punishment.
He further said those within the AAP who raised their voice against sacrilege were being sidelined. “The AAP’s poster boy against sacrilege, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh (former Punjab Police officer and now an AAP MLA) has been completely sidelined from the party and he is on the verge of resigning,” he claimed.
Taking on the BJP, he asked why its government at the Centre had not notified the stringent anti-sacrilege law passed unanimously by the Punjab assembly way back in 2016. He also asked the AAP government why it did not pursue the matter with the Centre all these years. “What is the guarantee that the new law that the AAP will enact will not meet the same fate?” he questioned the AAP government.
He noted that like the Akali government brought a similar law in 2016, just ahead of the end of its term, the AAP was doing the same thing now, just a few months before its term was going to end in Punjab for good.
