Moga (Punjab), Jan 15 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Thursday that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had committed a heinous sacrilege against the Sikh Gurus and appealed to the “Maha Purakhs” to take notice of it.

Addressing a conference on the occasion of the Maghi Mela at Takhtapura Sahib here, the SAD President said, “I have seen the video. It is shocking what is being done by a person sitting on the Chief Minister’s chair. The ‘Maha Purakhs’ in our society should take notice of it. Those like Baljit Singh Daduwal and Dhian Singh Mand, who defamed SAD on this sensitive issue should also explain why they are silent now.”

He also added that sacrilege incidents started occurring in Punjab in 2015 after the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) into the state in 2014.

“These were started to divide the Sikh community and defame the SAD,” he said.

The SAD President added that the AAP-led Punjab government “is even trying to frame me in a false case but I will never be cowed down by such tactics. The Guru Sahiban have taught us to fight against tyranny and I will continue to speak fearlessly against the “anti-people” and “anti-Punjabi” policies of this corrupt government”.

Appealing to the people of Punjab to support the SAD wholeheartedly, Badal said “we don’t need to give guarantees like the Congress and AAP who never fulfilled them as Punjabis trust our word. We have always implemented what we said like giving free power to farmers and introducing novel social welfare schemes like old age pension, aata-daal, Shagun and SC scholarship”.

Announcing that the SAD would further expand its “pro-farmer”, “pro-poor” and “pro-youth” policies once it came to power in the state in 2027, he added that free tubewell connections would be given to all neglected farmers.

He said that since Punjab waters were flowing into the Rajasthan canal unlawfully as Punjab alone had claim over them under the Riparian principle, the SAD government would stop this flow and divert these waters to the fields of farmers of Punjab.

He also announced pipes would be installed to ensure canal water reached tail ends.

–IANS

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