Punjab CM’s adviser Sarna joins Bargari stir, threatens to hold protest at his office
Sarna demanded that the state government disclose the report of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission on the Bargari sacrilege and the police firing on protesters in nearby Behbal Kalan.
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s religious adviser, Paramjit Singh Sarna, joined the protest started by “parallel” Sikh jathedars at Bargari in Faridkot which entered its 30th day on Friday.
Sarna, president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) and former president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), demanded that the state government disclose the report of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission on the Bargari sacrilege and the police firing on protesters in nearby Behbal Kalan.
He said the names of masterminds should be revealed. “We will start an indefinite protest at the residence or office of Captain Amarinder Singh if the issues are not addressed soon,” said Sarna, assuring the protest leaders of “every kind of help”.
Sarna also hit out at the Shiromani Akal Dal of the Badals, over the issue of compensation to detainees of Operation Bluestar, “They (Badals) must approach the central government for the rights of Sikhs.”
He, however, cautioned the parallel jathedars against breaking “the confidence of community” as the community “has found a leader (in Akal Takht’s parallel jathedar Dhian Singh Mand) after a long time” as the Badals have “misused” the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
Gurpreet Singh Randhawe Wala, opposition leader in the SGPC along with 14 members, also extended support to the protest. Gurdeep said it is the duty of the SGPC to fight for justice in Bargari and Behbal kalan incidents “but it has run away from its responsibility”. He also criticised SGPC chief Gobind Singh Longowal who has dubbed the Bargari portest as “a political stunt”. “He must apologise to the community.”
Mand said, “The state government has to come to Bargari with a solution to our demands as soon as possible, before we decide something else! We repeat our demands that perpetrators of the June 2015 Bargari sacrilege incident and those responsible for the death of two protesters in Behbal Kalan be brought to book.”
The protesters are also demanding release of Sikh prisoners who have served their sentences, and shifting of Babbar Khalsa militant Jagtar Singh Hawara, convicted for assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in August 1995, from the Tihar jail.
On June 8, Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal extended support to the protest started by the hardiners’ Sarbat Khalsa-appointed parallel jathedars since June 1.
