Amritsar, July 1: A group of rebel leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday turned up at the Akal Takht Sahib (the highest temporary headquarters for Sikhs) seeking apology for a series of incidents that led to the people of Punjab becoming angry with the party when it was in power in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.
They held SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal directly responsible for revoking the case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and for not punishing the culprits involved in the sacrilegious incidents that occurred at Bargari and Kotkapura besides the police firing at Behbal Kalan in 2015. They also accused the then former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, who remained utterly incapable of providing justice to the victims involved in the fake encounter.
Among the prominent members of the rebel group who were seen at Akal Takht were former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Jagir Kaur, former MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra, senior leaders Surjit Singh Rakhra and Gurpratap Wadala. All of them sent a letter to Akal Takht Sahib Jathedar Giani Raghubir Singh directly blaming President Sukhbir Singh Badal for his decisions that ruined the SAD group.
The rebels in their letter blamed Sukhbir Badal for pardoning Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim for wearing attire similar to that worn by the tenth Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh.
All the leaders in the letter to Jatehdar Akal Takht expressed their desire to suffer whatever punishment the highest Sikh temporal seat deemed fit as they were part of the Akali government at that time, but remained mute spectators to stop the wrong decisions of the leadership.
The rebels claimed in their letter that the SGPC spent nearly Rs 90 lakh on advertisements in new sections of newspapers to justify its decision but due to strong resistance from the people, SAD leadership and SGPC it had to finally reverse it.
They further added that they alleged that the Shiromani Akali Dal government had committed a grave blunder by appointing an officer as DGP who was known for his fake police encounters against Sikhs which resulted in the deaths of Sikh youths, besides fining the wife of another such officer who had formed the Alam Sena to carry out killings, making her the principal parliamentary secretary. They also blamed the Akali government formed in 2012 for not conducting a fair inquiry into the alleged fake police encounters and for not providing relief to the victims despite promises made to the people.
The rebels said in the letter that they had urged the party’s senior leaders to appear before Akal Takht to apologise for these mistakes as per Sikh principles, but the senior leaders did not agree.
They asked the Akal Takht jatehdar for forgiveness in writing for all these mistakes as they were part of the Akal government and said that they were all ready to accept any punishment imposed by the Akal Takht.
Before reaching Amritsar, the rebel leaders, including Prem Singh Chandu Majra and Gurpartap Singh Wadala, visited the house of Khadoor Sahib MP-elect Amritpal Singh at Jallukhera village in Baba Bakala near Beas to meet his parents. Radical preacher Amritpal is yet to be sworn in as MP as he is in an Assam jail, detained under the National Security Act.
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