Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu lashed out at Shiromani Akali Dal
New Delhi:
Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu has suggested that the Shiromani Akali Dal should honor the man who shot at Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal as he himself had accepted that he had committed sacrilege, forcing the former Deputy Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab to pay penance .
Mr Bittu, in a swipe at the Akali Dal, also suggested that party general secretary Bikram Singh Majithia should hug Narain Singh Chaura, the man who shot at Mr Badal, “the same way Majithia hugged the killers of Beant Singh had embraced.”
Mr Bittu claimed that the Akali Dal sympathized with terrorists, “but terrorists are not loyal to anyone.”
“Shiromani Akali Dal must show respect to Narain Singh Chaura. I appeal to the Jathedar to honor Narain Singh Chaura by installing his photo in the museum built next to the Akal Takht Sahib,” said Mr Bittu, the minister of Union Railways and Food. Processing Industries, told reporters.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, a Congressman, was assassinated by a suicide bomber in August 1995.
“When Sukhbir Singh Badal himself accepted the sacrilege, Narain Singh became emotional and shot at him, which missed and hit a wall. Narain Singh is a jewel of the nation…” Mr Bittu said, adding that Narain Singh Sukhbir Badal shot. “in the mind of the Guru”, and therefore no charges should be brought against him.
“If a case is filed, all costs of the case should be paid to the SGPC and Narain Singh should be acquitted,” Mr Bittu said in an apparent swipe at the Akali Dal.
Reacting to the Union minister's lashing out, Bikram Singh Majithia said Bittu and the BJP have a lot to answer for for 'validating the attack' on the former deputy prime minister.
“…On December 4, he (Mr Bittu) condemned the attack outside Parliament and now he has validated the attack. The BJP has a lot to answer for. Why does their minister justify an attack inside a gurdwara? Does the BJP support the ideology of Narain Singh Chaura because he is a sleeper cell of the ISI and an AK-47 rifle has been recovered from his house…”
#WATCH | Punjab: On Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu's statement on the attack on Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia says: “…On December 4, he condemned the attack outside Parliament and now he has the attack validated. pic.twitter.com/WU4O37yOPQ
— ANI (@ANI) December 7, 2024
Mr Badal, 62, was shot while performing penance ordered by the Akal Takht, the Sikhs' highest temporal body. He was found guilty of religious misconduct when the Akalis were in power in Punjab from 2007 to 2017, and was declared 'tankhaiya', or guilty of religious misconduct.
He was ordered to serve food and clean dishes and toilets in gurdwaras, including the Golden Temple, and started his first day as a 'sevadar' on Tuesday. He was dressed in blue, sat in a wheelchair, with a plaque around his neck and a spear in hand, and his first act of contrition was washing vessels. That day was uneventful.
However, on Wednesday, former Khalistaini terrorist Narain Singh opened fire at close range on Sukhbir Badal at the main gate of the Sikh shrine. He missed, and plainclothes police officers overpowered him.