AAP condemns desecration of Guru Granth Sahib, terms it a failure of SAD-BJP alliance

Chandigarh : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday criticised SAD-BJP alliance government in Punjab for its utter failure to check desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in Musalmana village in Amritsar district yesterday. AAP said unfortunately such incidents have been occurring at regular intervals in Punjab since last year. Three men on saturday had set on fire two birs of Guru Granth Sahib and 10 Gutkas (religious texts) at Gurdwara at Ramadiwali Musalmana village in Amritsar district.
AAP, convener, Punjab, Sucha Singh Chhotepur while condemning the aforesaid act of sacrilege which he termed had caused a huge hurt to the sentiments of the Sikh community, said it appeared there was a grand design behind such blasphemous acts only to create communal tension and divisions on religious lines. ” It appeared that certain elements wanted to create a communal divide in Punjab therefore such desecration incidents are being repeated time and again since last year to achieve the nefarious design. The Badal government has simply failed to stop such sacrilege incidents which have been happening at regular intervals only to create a wedge among various religions and communities”, addd Chhotepur.
Chhotepur said though Punjab Police claimed to have arrested the accused but the officials could not be trusted as was evident from their past record. In October last year Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini had arrested Rupinder Singh and his brother Jaswinder Singh of Faridkot district on the charges of sacrilege occurred in Bargari village. Saini not only produced telephonic transcripts before the media but had also claimed there was a foreign hand behind the series of sacrilege incidents in Punjab. But very soon under tremendous public pressure the Punjab Police had to backtrack and release both the brothers as they were unable to find any incriminating evidence against them to buttress their earlier claim.
Chhotepur said Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who holds the portfolio for home affairs and justice department has proven to be a complete failure to discharge his responsibility and to put an end to such incidents. ” At times it appears as if the Parkash Singh Badal led government’s lax attitude towards such incidents is deliberate to divert public attention from the contentious issue such as Punjab river waters and the SYL that has been hanging fire in the state assembly”. Last year too when the farmers’ agitation against the Badal government was at its peak which was already causing huge embarrassment to the SAD-BJP alliance there was a sudden spurt of sacrilege incidents in Punjab to divert the public attention. Chhotepur said AAP would not let political parties play communal agenda in the state especially when the elections are around the corner as Punjab has already suffered a lot and has been through very difficult times and is still struggling hard to come back to the track.