Punjab Urban and Rural Development Minister Mr Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa today called upon former chief minister and Akali Dal patron Mr Parkash Singh Badal to reveal as to why Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and his associates were summoned to his residence in September 2015 before Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh was granted pardon.“This is the key issue relating to the entire sacrilege narrative. It had come out at that time that the Jathedars had been summoned to official residence of Mr Badal to secure pardon for the Dera chief. However, Mr Badal himself must come out on record on this sensitive issue. That it was violation of Sikh Rehat-Maryada is a separate issue. Mr Badal has been 5-time chief minister and also has the honour of Fakhr-e-Qaum Panth Rattan and as such, it is expected that he would only speak the truth”, he said.He recalled that the pardon to Dera chief by Akal Takht in the blasphemy case of 2007 was withdrawn following Sikh anger that the Badals continue to face.
He called upon Mr Badal to come out as to why there were no concerted efforts to trace the Bir of Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singhwala on June 1, 2015 whose pages were subsequently found scattered in the streets of nearby Bargari village. The Badal government treated it just as an ordinary crime. In case the Bir had been traced, the subsequent tragic incidents relating to sacrilege could have been avoided.He alleged it was part of the design of Mr Badal and his then deputy chief minister son Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal to treat it as a normal crime while it was rooted in Dera Sacha Sauda for whose chief they secured pardon from Akal Takht.Mr Bajwa said it was shocking that even after the heinous crime of sacrilege, no focussed investigation was carried out to trace the culprits. The culprits were arrested only during investigation and that too by the same team only after Capt Amarinder Singh took over as the chief minister.He asserted the SIT was doing its job professionally without any interference from the Amarinder government. He rubbished the allegation by Mr Badal that the final report of this investigation would be dictated by Capt Amarinder Singh saying this only betrayed guilt complex.