Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday hit out at Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal over his claims that the Congress was behind the Sarbat Khalsa being held at Amritsar on November 10.
Amarinder also condemned Sukhbir for terming Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to victims of the Bargari police firing as political.
In a statement here, Amarinder advised Sukhbir and his father Parkash Singh Badal that instead of blaming others, particularly the Congress, they must introspect and realise and admit their own gross failures on both political and administrative fronts. “Forget about ruling Punjab for 25 years and think of how you are going to come out from your hideouts lest the angry masses beat you black and blue,” he told Sukhbir, while reacting to his claims that the Akali Dal was certain to retain power in 2017.
Referring to the Sarbat Khalsa, the former chief minister asserted that the Congress was a secular party which, unlike the Akalis, did not believe in using and misusing religion for political ends. “The Congress has always believed in and stood for peace and harmony and laid down sacrifices for safeguarding it”, he said.
“It is only because your father has throughout his life misused religion and religious institutions such as the Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that there is so much resentment among the community against you and the situation has come to such a point that you have to go into hiding”, he told Sukhbir. “As you sow, so shall you reap and now you must reap what you have sown, without blaming the Congress,” added Amarinder.
{{/usCountry}}“It is only because your father has throughout his life misused religion and religious institutions such as the Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that there is so much resentment among the community against you and the situation has come to such a point that you have to go into hiding”, he told Sukhbir. “As you sow, so shall you reap and now you must reap what you have sown, without blaming the Congress,” added Amarinder.
{{/usCountry}}The Amritsar MP said Sukhbir should feel ashamed that while Rahul came all the way from Delhi to meet kin of Bargari firing victims, the deputy CM and his father have not yet mustered the courage to meet the families of the deceased.