SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann on Wednesday said his supporters would not “allow” people to reach the venue of the sadbhawna rally to be organised by the SAD at Bathinda on November 23.
Addressing a press conference, Mann said he intended to give Sukhbir (deputy chief minister and SAD president) a “taste of his own medicine”. “District transport officers stopped buses full of our supporters from reaching the venue of the ‘Sarbat Khalsa’. We will also intensify our peaceful protests and do the same,” he said. “The SAD-BJP government needs to be ousted. Their time is up,” he said, almost sounding the election bugle.
Mann said his supporters and organisers of the ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ were facing “repression”. “It is unacceptable. Charges of sedition under which we all and our jathedars have been booked cannot be applied to us. Punjab advocate general Ashok Aggarwal has also told the Punjab government that these charges are not made out,” he said.
“Other men from my party are being picked up under section 107/151 of the IPC. It is for preventive arrest. But bail is our right. However, the magistrates of the Badals are not giving bails. They are being asked questions about their property and being kept in custody. Is this a democratic way of doing things,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Other men from my party are being picked up under section 107/151 of the IPC. It is for preventive arrest. But bail is our right. However, the magistrates of the Badals are not giving bails. They are being asked questions about their property and being kept in custody. Is this a democratic way of doing things,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“The Badals in future might have to face such repression. Will they be able to survive it? We are ready to die for our ideology. It is they who want to live, with all the money they are making out of drugs and mining,” he said.
“Why do you think Badal wants to apologise? Because he knows he has done something wrong. The father-son duo know that the ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ was proof that they would be thrown out of power. They are scared and feel the need to counter it with their own rallies,” he said.