Tired, hungry Dera followers say ‘will re-launch agitation for justice’

Sangrur, August 26 : Walking for over 50 kms without food and water, Dera followers refused to accept that they were at fault in Panchkula, which led to the violence.
They said that they will come back for justice for Pitaji and have only postponed their struggle. “We would re-launch our agitation for justice after proper preparations as our Pitaji has been implicated in a false case,” said said Baljit Singh, a follower from Barnala. They alleged some unidentified miscreants hijacked the situation in Panchkula to defame them.
“We were sitting peacefully and after the announcement of the decision against Pitaji, we started leaving Panchkula. But suddenly some unidentified men with covered faces started provoking us. Before we could react, the unidentified persons started throwing stones on the police. We tried to run away from the troublemakers, but the police started beating us with sticks,” alleged Satinder Singh from Jaito. Singh along with around 300 other followers walked till Patiala last night through various link roads from Panchkula and reached Sangrur city today in wee hours.
“We were repeatedly attacked by the Haryana Police with sticks. I along with my group members stayed without water for 13 hours and without food for 18 hours. We went to Panchkula only to express our solidarity with Pitaji and not to hurt anyone,” said Guardial Singh, an old man from Bathinda while sitting in a bus with his 16-year-old grandson. He said that after the violence all first walked till Zirakpur from Panchkula and from there, they walked towards Patiala all night through link roads and faced repeated abuses on the way from the police.