Cong helped Sarbat Khalsa, says Sukhbir at ‘Sadbhavna Rally’

Moga : With elevation of Capt Amarinder Singh as president of the Punjab Congress apparently uppermost on his mind, SAD president Sukhbir Badal today attempted to relate him as well as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi with hardline Sikh politics. Addressing the second ‘Sadbhavna Rally’ here today, the Deputy Chief Minister said in case Capt Amarinder Singh did not remove from the party within two days the Congress leaders who had participated in the Sarbat Khalsa at Chabba, it would become obvious that the exercise had been carried out at the behest of Rahul Gandhi. Sukhbir named Ramanjit Sikki, Inderjit Singh Zira, Harmanjit Gill and Lalli Majithia as the Congress leaders who had attended the Sarbat Khalsa. Capt Amarinder Singh may be the ‘biggest lion’ of the Congress, but he had gone too old and had no bite left in him, Sukhbir said, adding he had attempted twice to establish his presence against the SAD but failed miserably. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also took a dig at Capt Amarinder by saying, “We expect him to come out of his den and display his pointlessly flared tempers. But that has no meaning for the people.” The gathering at today’s rally was clearly smaller than the first attempt at demonstration of strength with around 50,000 people in Bathinda on Monday. However, there was a sizeable number on the roads outside the Grain Market venue, which affected traffic on the main road. Even as Sukhbir Badal still made the claim of this rally being larger than the previous, other speakers avoided mentioning any numbers in their speech. There was no denying that the audience response was also milder than the Bathinda rally on Monday. Following the debacle over the Dera Sacha Sauda affair and subsequent resentment against the government over the incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib, the SAD is attempting to re-establish credibility with the masses through a series of ‘Sadbhavna’ rallies. The party was particularly rattled by the crowd that gathered at the Sarbat Khalsa called by an amalgamation of Sikh organisations and a few hardline leaders.