Sidhu says Parkash Badal is General Dyer, Amarinder calls him coward, liar
 |
| Sidhu says Parkash Badal is General Dyer, Amarinder calls him coward, liar (File Photo) |
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has said his predecessor and Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal is a liar and coward. Amarinder's deputy, Navjot Singh Sidhu went a step ahead and equated Badal with General Dyer, the heartless British officer who ordered fire on hundreds of innocent unarmed people at Jalianwala Bagh in Amritsar.
Amarinder and Sidhu made these comments inside the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday. They were speaking on the issue of sacrilege of religious symbols and articles in the state.
Coming down heavily on Parkash Singh Badal on cases of sacrilege during his chief ministership, Amarinder accused him of framing him in false cases.
He was concluding the debate on the Justice (Retd) Ranjit Singh Commission report on the issue of sacrilege in Punjab. Amarinder said there is no question of going soft on Parkash Singh Badal, whom he blamed squarely for the damage caused to Punjab because of his acts of "commission and omission".
The CM also raked up the police firing in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura wherein unarmed people were reportedly fired upon people while they were protesting against incidents of sacrilege.
"Badal and his family failed to even visit those who were injured and relatives of the ones killed in the police firing in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura towns,' Amarinder said.
He pointed out that the then Director General of Police, Sumedh Singh Saini, on his last working day had given a statement saying that he spoke to Parkash Singh Badal (the then CM) before the police firing. "How could the CM be sleeping, as claimed by him, when the state was going through such grave times," he asked.
He also held Badal directly responsible for Operation Blue Star. "Whenever there was any scope for negotiation, Badal would sabotage the efforts," he said.
BADAL IS GENERAL DYER: NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU
Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu also did not mince his words while attacking the former CM during the debate. He said Badal was a "dubious character at whose behest the barbaric firing was unleashed in Behbal Kalan".
"The desecration of the holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib will always haunt Badal, who acted like General Dyer and ordered firing on innocent people who were protesting against the sacrilege," Sidhu said.
SIT FORMED FOR TIME-BOUND PROBE OF SACRILEGE CASES
Meanwhile, Captain Amarinder Singh has announced a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Punjab Police that will ensure time-bound investigation into the various sacrilege cases in the state, as well as police firing in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura.
The announcement was made after the assembly unanimously passed a resolution by voice vote to withdraw CBI investigations into the cases and get the same probed by an SIT.
No comments