Rebel Congress Leader Navjot Sidhu Attacks Punjab CM Amarinder Singh
In order to silence the dissenting voices, the Punjab Government on Friday (May 7) had constituted a new three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case.
By Rakesh Raman
In his ongoing tirade against his colleague and Punjab chief minister (CM) Amarinder Singh, disgruntled Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has intensified his attack.
In a couple of tweets, Sidhu criticized Amarinder Singh today (May 8) for procrastinating the investigation into the burning Kotkapura firing incident that took place in 2015.
In order to silence the dissenting voices, the Punjab Government on Friday (May 7) had constituted a new three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case. The government directed the SIT to complete the investigation into the Kotkapura firing incident, “preferably” in six months.
The government order cleverly uses the word “preferably” allowing the SIT to further delay the probe so that it does not have any adverse impact on Amarinder Singh in the 2022 Punjab Assembly election scheduled to take place around March 2022.
Sad !! Due to incompetence of Home Minister, Govt is forced to accept orders of the High Court, which the People of Punjab are standing up against. Giving 6 months to New SIT, extends the delay of Govt’s biggest poll promise, unfortunately up-to next elections code of conduct 1/2 pic.twitter.com/gITIvcIwD9
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) May 8, 2021
“Sad !! Due to incompetence of the Home Minister (Amarinder Singh), the government is forced to accept orders of the High Court, which the people of Punjab are standing up against. Giving 6 months to the new SIT, extends the delay of government’s biggest poll promise, unfortunately up-to next elections code of conduct,” Sidhu said in his tweet.
He also posted a video of Amarinder Singh in which he blamed former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal who had allegedly ordered firing on innocent people.
Injustice caused by deliberate delay is betrayal of People’s Mandate. After Multiple Inquiry Commissions, SITs and passage of 6 years, evidence has weakened while accused have gained in wisdom, making their defence stronger due to repetitive investigations on the same matter. 2/2
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) May 8, 2021
Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the findings of an earlier SIT probe done by a Punjab Police team. Sidhu and a slew of other Punjab leaders believe that the CM office colluded with the court to get the probe discarded so that Badal could be saved surreptitiously.
“Injustice caused by deliberate delay is betrayal of people’s mandate. After multiple inquiry Commissions, SITs and passage of 6 years, evidence has weakened while the accused have gained in wisdom, making their defence stronger due to repetitive investigations on the same matter,” Sidhu added in his tweets of May 8.
Termed as the Bargari sacrilege case in which the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib (the religious scripture of Sikhs) took place on October 12, 2015, a firing was ordered on Sikh protesters in Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan leading to the death of two Sikh youth.
Although Amarinder Singh had claimed before the 2017 Punjab Assembly election that Badal was responsible for the death of protesters and he will get him punished, he failed to fulfill his promise after winning the election.
Now, a slew of Punjab Congress leaders believe that Badal and Amarinder Singh are hand in glove with each other and the latter is complicit in the Bargari criminal case.
It is largely believed that Amarinder Singh’s failure in this religiously sensitive case is expected to harm Congress in the 2022 Punjab Assembly election.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
