Chandigarh: Leaders cutting across party lines condemned the attack on Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal outside the Golden Temple on Wednesday even as the Opposition targeted the ruling AAP alleging breakdown of law and order in the state with SAD demanding resignation of the chief minister. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann directed police to investigate the incident.
A former Khalistani terrorist fired from close range at Badal at the Golden Temple's entrance but missed as plainclothes policemen overpowered him. The SAD leader was performing the duty of 'sewadar' on the second day of his religious penance for "mistakes" committed by the party's government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.
Besides Mann, other leaders like AAP's Arvind Kejriwal, BJP's Amarinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar, SAD's Bikram Singh Majithia and Daljit Singh Cheema and Partap Singh Bajwa of Congress also condemned the attack. Mann, whose government came under fire from the opposition parties following the attack, lauded the promptness of Punjab Police in nabbing attacker Narain Singh Chaura.
He also said that the entire incident will be probed impartially. The audacious attack, which took place around 9:30 am, was captured on cameras of media persons who had gathered outside the Sikh shrine to cover the second day of Badal's penance. Speaking to reporters in Mohali, Mann called it an unfortunate incident.
"...I have given them (police) strict instructions that the incident should be deeply probed, and very soon we will know the reasons behind the incident. "We will not allow such conspiracies to defame Punjab succeed. I strongly condemn the attack on Sukhbir Badal," he said. Kejriwal lauded the police for averting a "very big" tragedy.
Speaking in Delhi assembly, he also hit out at the BJP, saying "very big powers" are conspiring to defame Punjab and people of the state. The police have set an example of how to maintain law and order, the former Delhi chief minister said, adding the issue of attack on Badal was raised by the BJP but the party is silent over the "murders, rapes, shooting in Delhi" where police come under the central government.
Reacting to the incident, BJP Rajya Sabha member and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, It's a very serious matter." The law and order situation in Punjab has been deteriorating since the AAP came to power in the state, he charged. SAD leader and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia slammed the ruling party over the incident.
"I have shared a video that shows the accused was in the area since yesterday," he told reporters in Amritsar. Noting that Chaura faced multiple cases, many of them serious, Majithia said, "He was wearing a cream coloured sweater yesterday. If the police were so alert, why didn't they arrest him? Instead, police gave him VIP treatment and were probably waiting for the bullet to be fired."
Earlier too there have been conspiracies to wipe out the Akali leadership, Majithia claimed in response to a question. Badal (62) is undergoing religious punishment announced by the Akal Takht. Holding a spear in one hand and dressed in blue 'sewadar' uniform, the SAD leader sat at the entrance of the Golden Temple where the incident took place.
Senior SAD leader Cheema, who is also undergoing religious punishment, demanded judicial inquiry into the incident and said, "we have been saying conspiracies are going on to finish the Akali leadership. The entire conspiracy needs to be unearthed". "For Punjab, this is a big incident. Where are we pushing the state?... It is a 100 per cent failure of law and order. The chief minister should resign," he told reporters in Amritsar.
Punjab minister and AAP state president Aman Arora denied there was any intelligence failure or other lapse. He said the incident is highly condemnable, but added due to alertness of the Punjab Police, an untoward incident was averted. "It is not an intelligence failure. Rather, it is alertness of Punjab Police which prevented (an untoward incident). You can call it success of the intelligence and Punjab Police," Arora said.
Punjab BJP chief Jakhar said, "No Sikh can commit such cowardly act. A true Sikh can never do such an act." He lauded the promptness of the security personnel in nabbing the attacker. "But their bravery cannot put curtains on the situation prevailing in Punjab. Gangsters, mafia and terror elements have raised their head in Punjab during the past two-and-a-half years, which should be a matter of concern for all," he said and also demanded an impartial probe into the incident.
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said if Sukhbir Badal can be shot at then anybody can be harmed. "There is no law and order in Punjab. I hold the Punjab government responsible for the incident," he said. Senior party leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said accused Chaura was once a dreaded militant and coming to the Golden Temple with illegal weapons leaves a big question mark on security.
There should be a judicial or CBI inquiry into the incident, he demanded. Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, while condemning the incident, said that Chaura is the same person who was named the mastermind of the 2004 Burail jailbreak in Chandigarh. Bittu, the grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated in a terror attack in 1995, said whenever he raises some issues about once hardcore militants he is targeted by some opponents.
"What I have been telling is that the mindset of such persons doesn't change even when they are released," said Bittu about Chaura, while suggesting that the Akali leadership should rethink the demands they have made in the past seeking release of people like Balwant Singh Rajoana. Rajoana is a death row convict in the assassination case of Beant Singh.
Haryana minister Anil Vij described the Amritsar incident a "serious matter" and said Punjab Police should ascertain the motive of the attacker. Viresh Shandilya, president of Anti-Terrorist Front India, said he met Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria here and raised critical security issues.
