Bathinda, June 9, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab has taken strong exception to the appointment of Gobind Singh Longowal, President of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), an apex body of the Sikhs, as a member of the core committee of the Akali Dal (Badal), seeking his immediate resignation as SGPC chief.
Addressing a press conference in Bathinda on Tuesday, party chief spokesperson and MLA Prof. Baljinder Kaur and MLA Rupinder Kaur Ruby, mounted a frontal attack on the Badal family, saying that by appointing Longowal as member of the core committee, SAD (Badal) President Sukhbir Singh Badal had taken over reigns of the SGPC.
She said this was not only violation of the Indian Constitution but also an attempt to demeaning the honor and dignity of the entire Sikh community, as neither the people of the state nor the court had given the Badals clean chit in the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari and the Behbal Kalan-Kotkapura shooting incidents.
Prof. Baljinder Kaur said the nomination of Bhai Longowal as a member of the core committee of Akali Dal (Badal) was an acid test for the Election Commission of India and Indian courts, as Balwant Singh Khera, a prominent social activist and a veteran leader of Akali Dal had been fighting a legal battle for a long time against the dual face – religious and political – and Akali Dal (Badal) had got a rap from the Delhi High Court and a Hoshiarpur court.
Prof. Baljinder Kaur and Rupinder Kaur Ruby said that the Election Commission of India should take cognizance of this ill-intentioned move and derecognise Akali Dal (Badal) as a political outfit, claiming that a delegation of the Aam Aadmi Party would submit a memorandum to the Election Commission in this regard.
They made it categorically clear that Aam Aadmi Party did not believe in politics of caste, colour and creed, but it was a moral duty of the Panth and Punjabis to speak out their hearts against this unconstitutional move of the Badals to leverage it to achieve political mileage.
The AAP leaders further added that the SGPC was the iconic religious body of the Sikh community, which had emerged as an entity out of the supreme sacrifices made by teeming millions of members of the community.
The AAP leaders added that it was aimed at maintaining the Sikh shrines and religious places in accordance with the highest Sikh traditions and tenets, based on the philosophy of ‘Sarbatt Da Bhalla’, alleging that by appointing Longowal a member of the party’s core committee under Sukhbir Badal, the SGPC had been reduced to a mere Badal party, which was unacceptable to any Nanak-Naam leva sangat.
Rupinder Kaur Ruby on the occasion said when the Shiromani Akali Dal came into being way back in 1920, it was a pure religious entity and its aims and objectives were to contest Gurdwara elections religiously in a free, fair and democratic manner. She added that, according to the Indian Constitution, only secular parties could contest Assembly or Parliamentary elections, questioning Sukhbir Singh Badal to clarify to the people of the state whether his was a religious or a secular party?
Others who were conspicuous by their presence on the occasion included district president of the party advocate Navdeep Singh Jida, halqa in-charge Amritpal Agarwal, Co-President of State Trade Wing Anil Thakur, party spokesman Neil Garg and Zone Media in charge Rakesh Puri.
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