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Sukhbir censures Digvijay, CM for demonising Sikh pilgrims
Demands probe against Capt-led government for not following sops with Nanded returnees
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday criticised Congress leader Digvijay Singh for holding Sikh pilgrims guilty of spreading coronavirus disease in Punjab.
He has also demanded a high-level probe into the state government’s “mysterious refusal” to follow its own norms in handling the pilgrims’ after their arrival.
“Digvijay’s statement will defame Sikhs all over the world as the originators of coronavirus infection. Instead of shedding fake tears in PR videos over pilgrims’ sufferings, Capt Amarinder Singh should apologise to Sikhs as shocking statements by several Punjab ministers and Congress leaders like Digvijay were tarnishing the community’s image,” Badal remarked.
The SAD chief said it would be insane to link the Sikh pilgrims of Nanded Sahib with the spreading of coronavirus in Punjab.
Sukhbir’s reaction came in the wake of a tweeted reference by Digvijay linking the Sikh pilgrims with the spread of Covid-19 in the state.
Defending his party’s efforts to bring back the pilgrims, he said his party and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) have repeatedly declared that they would take full responsibility of looking after the pilgrims and every other Punjabi in their hour of need, including provision of facilities for comfortable quarantine.
“But instead of accepting our request, the Capt government has been torturing and humiliating the pilgrims and others who have been quarantined in filthy environs,” he said.
He also expressed “grave concern over the reports of a conspiracy to infect the incoming Naded Sahib pilgrims with the virus on the journey or on arrival” as they had been repeatedly tested negative before their departure.
He fired a volley of questions at the CM on the government’s “mysterious refusal” to follow its own norms while handling the pilgrims upon their arrival.
SAD has demanded a high-level, independent inquiry, preferably by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court, into the whole episode. “The issue stinks of something shady and mysterious,” he said.
