The Shiromani Akali Dal today accused leaders of the AAP of “indulging in dangerous double-speak on crucial issues concerning Punjab”, and dared them to “take a clear,categorical and principled stand on the place of religion in politics and on Simranjit Singh Mann’s demand for a separate state.”The SAD also asked the AAP leaders not to tread the dangerous communal turf and to keep clear of issues that carry the potential of dividing people along religious lines, thereby disturbing the hard earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony in the state. The party also asked AAP to stop its ‘political voyeurism’ on national issues as it could actually compromise our national interests in the crucial border state.
“The AAP is indulging the worst kind of political double-speak and hypocrisy on the twin issues of a separate Sikh state for Sikhs and on the mix of religion and politics. On the one hand, they are opposing and attacking the mixture of religion and politics through the ‘Miri–Piri’ concept while on the other, they are holding political conferences on religious occasions, like Shaheedi Jor Mela at Fatehgarh Sahib and Maghi Mela at Muktsar Sahib etc., and other Gurpurabs, misusing the name of the great Sahibzadas and the Sikh Gurus,” said the SAD Spokesperson and General Secretary Harcharan Singh Bains. But, said Mr. Bains, even more dangerous was the forked political tongue of AAP on the issue of national unity and integrity. “They describe themselves as a secular nationalist party.
But their loudest voice in Punjab, Mr. Bhagwant Mann openly justifies Mr. Simranjit Singh Mann’s demand for a separate state as “a case of demanding one’s just rights and opposing injustice and repression. Constitutionally, that may be a matter of opinion and debate, but politically, what really is AAP’s clear stand on Khalistan? Do Mr. Bhagwant Mann’s views represent the official line of Mr. Arvind Kejriwal’s party?” asked Mr. Bains. The SAD General Secretary was referring to views expressed by several AAP leaders, including Mr. Bhagwant Mann in a televisioninterviews. “The interview, like his other statements, might have been overlooked the habitual slips of his tongue but Mr. Bhagwant Mann immediately made a reference to the ideology of the great Gurus in the religio-political context, making it clear that he was deliberately trying to distort Sikh history and philosophy. This is unacceptable,” said Mr. Bains.