Ludhiana, November 18
Taken off guard over the videographic and documentary revelations about the entry of policemen into the Golden Temple during his tenure former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today admitted that policemen had entered the Golden Temple when he was in power. However, he claimed that they (the policemen) were not in uniform when they entered the Golden Temple during his tenure.
In an informal conversation with some reporters at the residence of the district president of SAD, Mr Avtar Singh Makkar, where he had gone to condole the death of Mr Makkar’s brother today, Mr Badal sought to put up a strong defence, saying that during his time the policemen had entered as a matter of routine. They had no specific agenda at that time. “But this time the policemen in uniform infiltrated into the Golden Temple with an obvious purpose to grab the SGPC”, a defensive Mr Badal alleged.
Reacting to the screening of the videos about the entry of policemen in uniform into the Golden Temple during his time, Mr Badal alleged that the government had launched a disinformation campaign against him and was misusing all resources at its disposal for maligning and defaming him. “They have money and they are using television channels to defame us. But we don’t have money and we will explain our case directly to the masses”, a subdued Mr Badal said.
Mr Badal appeared to delay the issue of action against the senior vice-president of the party, Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi, who revolted against him (Mr Badal) during the SGPC elections and sided with his rival, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra. Mr Badal said, “The matter has been referred to the political affairs committee (PAC) of the party which take the final decision on the issue”, he disclosed.
However, he did not specify as when the PAC meeting would be held, thus indicating that the matter was likely to be put off for some time. Mr Talwandi’s son, Mr Ranjit Talwandi, is a SAD legislator from Raikote and he continues to side with Mr Badal.
The former Chief Minister disagreed that he had postponed the “jail bharo andolan” to November 27 because of the poor response from the masses. He claimed that the
programme had been postponed only because of the SGPC elections.
“The programme stands as scheduled and you will see how Akali workers will flood the jails as they are totally upset over the way the Congress government has been dealing with the Sikhs”, he said.
To another question that whether he supported the demand for summoning the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra to Akal Takht, Mr Badal said, “It was an issue which only the SGPC is authorised to decide. “I cannot comment on the issue since it concerns the SGPC, which should take the appropriate action”, he observed.
