Chandigarh: With the Aam Aadmi Get together (AAP) authorities below fireplace for giving in to radical activist Amritpal Singh Sandhu, Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav asserted that the principle cause that the police couldn’t act on the bottom was due to the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib with those that reached the Ajnala police station.
“Punjab Police has proven utmost restraint in coping with the scenario. We had been advised that the demonstration outdoors the police station can be peaceable, and the demonstration was, because of this, permitted. Nonetheless, the police have been attacked with sharp weapons and lathis that led to accidents to 6 policemen, together with our SP Jugraj Singh who’s a world hockey participant,” Yadav mentioned at a press convention on Friday.
Mandatory motion can be initiated towards those that attacked the policemen, the Punjab DGP mentioned.
The siege at Ajnala has sparked a debate over the appropriateness of Amritpal carrying the Guru Granth Sahib and utilizing it as a “defend” towards a doable retaliatory police motion. Even the opposition events have come out to sentence it of their reactions to Thursday’s incident.
Earlier than storming the Ajnala police station, Amritpal and his supporters had arrived with the Guru Granth Sahib in a particular automobile to demand the cancellation of the FIR towards him and the discharge of one among his associates.
What initially seemed like a non secular jatha (congregation) gave method to Amritpal’s supporters forcing their approach into the police station. Flanked by his males carrying automated weapons, Amritpal was seen pushing the automobile carrying the Guru Granth Sahib.
Amritpal Singh’s aide Lovepreet Singh Toofan was launched from Amritsar Jail on Friday, as promised by the police Thursday night.
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Widespread condemnation
Addressing a press convention in Chandigarh Friday, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal mentioned it was “surprising” for the Sikh group to see the presence of Guru Granth Sahib outdoors a police station together with a whole lot of protesters.
“It’s completely unacceptable that Guru Granth Sahib was used as a defend. The act of taking Guru Granth Sahib to a police station the place solely damaging issues occur and criminals are remanded is totally incorrect. Every time the Guru Granth Sahib is taken to a spot, the individuals round them need to cowl their heads, take away their footwear, and the highway forward is cleaned and sprinkled with water,” he mentioned.
“Take a look at what occurred yesterday. There’s a Hukamnama from the Akal Takht banning Sikhs from taking the Guru Granth Sahib to marriage palaces and right here the Guru Granth Sahib was taken to a police station? Not simply the Shiromani Akali Dal however each Sikh ought to condemn this within the strongest doable phrases,” Sukhbir added.
In a press release, former Punjab chief minister and BJP chief Amarinder Singh too questioned the motive behind carrying the Guru Granth Sahib to the protest website. This was unacceptable, he mentioned.
Protesters taking the holy Bir of Guru Granth Sahib to the police station was unprecedented, Congress state president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring mentioned. “I enchantment to Akal Takhat Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh to pay attention to the matter and take vital motion additionally,” Warring mentioned in a press release issued Thursday.
Condemning Amritpal, Warring mentioned the act confirmed solely his cowardice. “When you actually think about the Holy Guru, you don’t want to hold it to the police station to struggle the police,” he advised the Sikh radical.
However Amritpal justified his determination saying that the Guru Granth Sahib has been part of the assorted morchas in an out of doors Punjab and was even carried by the Sikh troopers through the world wars.
“Banda Singh Bahadur was despatched by Guru Sahib (Guru Gobind Singh within the presence of the Panj pyaras that are guru roop (just like the Guru). Throughout British instances, the Guru Granth Sahib was carried by Sikh troopers to the battle. In all of the morchas, whether or not it was in Delhi (farmers agitation), or the morcha at Behbal Kalan, or at Mohali (for launch of Bandi Singhs), the Guru Granth Sahib is current,” he mentioned.
Paramjit Singh Decide advised ThePrint that whereas it’s appropriate that the Guru Granth Sahib was taken by the British troopers to the locations the place the battle was fought through the World Wars, there isn’t any precedent earlier than that.
“The Britishers did it to maintain the Sikh Regiment motivated. It was unprecedented earlier than that,” mentioned Decide, an authority on Punjab’s historical past.
Professor Dharam Singh advised ThePrint that carrying the Guru Granth Sahib to a police station was patently incorrect.
“A police station is the final place the place the Guru Granth Sahib ought to have been carried to. There might be policemen smoking cigarettes, or recovered medicine and alcohol mendacity there. Secondly, wherever the Guru Granth Sahib has been current at morchas, it has been ensured by the organisers that it’s stored with utmost sacredness,” the creator of the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism mentioned.
“Wherever they’re, Sikh troopers do have the Guru Granth Sahib current as a matter of religion and draw energy. However that doesn’t imply that the Guru Granth Sahib is taken by them bodily to the battlefield,” he asserted.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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