CHANDIGARH: In a major political development on the 103rd foundation day of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), with an eye on the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, party president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday apologized to the Sikh community for the 2015 sacrilege cases under their government in alliance with the BJP. He also appealed to dissident Akali leaders to come together under one umbrella shunning their differences.
Addressing a gathering on the 103rd foundation day of the SAD at Shaheed Baba Gurbax Singh Jee gurdwara near the Akal Takht in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Sukhbir said it was a lapse on the part of the then SAD-BJP government that they could not arrest the culprits of the sacrilege incidents. He added that due to political pressure, the then government was compelled to refer the matter to the CBI.
"In retrospect, I believe it was a huge blunder to allow some so-called Panthic personalities and organizations to pressurize the government into handing over the probe to the CBI instead of conducting it ourselves. It was only later that their game plan became clear to us but by that time the probe had already been handed over to the central agency," said Sukhbir, adding that he was deeply aggrieved at the failure to catch, expose and punish the actual culprits as well as those behind the sacrilege tragedy.
"I want to offer my sincere apology to the Akal Takht Sahib and the Sikh community as I am the president of the party and deeply regret any hurt caused during our governance. We apologise for our failure to arrest the perpetrators and assure that we will ensure that the real culprits will be punished and we will expose those who politicized this issue. We deeply regret any hurt caused during our governance," said Sukhbir, adding that successive governments could not arrest the culprits. He said, "If voted to power, the SAD would leave no stone unturned to catch the culprits."
Sukhbir said it had pained his late father and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal a great deal that these incidents had occurred under his watch. "It inflicted deep pain on the heart of both Parkash Singh Badal and my own that these incidents happened during the Akali government and that we could not arrest and punish the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Badal sahib left us, carrying this wound on his heart," he said.
Sukhbir said that he did not want to offer any alibis for this failure. "As a government, we should have realized the games that some elements masquerading as Panthic organizations were playing to not only destabilize the then government but also to permanently sabotage the possibility of a Panthic government in Punjab. We failed to realize that they were actually driving a wedge between the Khalsa Panth and its warrior force, the SAD. They worked hard to turn the community against its own right arm. That was the only way they could weaken the Khalsa Panth," he said. He asked the Sikh masses to note how the forces that were so loud and active against SAD government on sacrilege had become silent on sacrilege incidents even at the Golden Temple or on the police assault on Sikh shrines including the one at Sultanpur Lodhi.
Without naming anyone, Sukhbir also apologized to the Akalis who had parted ways and urged them to strengthen the SAD by uniting once again. He said that he will personally ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. "I will attend personally to the grievances of every Akali worker and every Punjabi, like Badal (Senior) used to do. He said that a united and strong Akali Dal was a prerequisite for a strong and progressive Punjab. We need to remain united in order to save the precious resources of our Punjab including river waters and control over BBMB. But make no mistake, the SAD alone can guarantee that our heritage and culture is saved from conspiracies to erode and dilute it," he said.
The sacrilege incidents had occurred in Faridkot district between June and October 2015 followed by the killing of two protesters in police firing in Behbal Kalan village of Kotakpura. This incident contributed to the party’s poor performance as the SAD could just win 15 seats in the 2017 assembly polls after the SAD-BJP government had remained in power in the state for ten years from 2007. In the 2022 assembly elections, the party could win only three seats.
The Dera Sacha Sauda had openly supported the SAD in the 2017 elections. Subsequently, in 2018, during the Congress government’s tenure, an SIT was formed, which charged Dera Sacha Sauda followers in the 2015 sacrilege case.
