Chandigarh: Former Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal patron, Parkash Singh Badal has written an open letter calling the cases registered against him in the 2015 Kotkapura firing incident as a “conspiracy” to defame the SAD. In the open letter addressed to Punjabis, the five times Punjab chief minister hit out at the ruling AAP government in the state for the “vendetta politics” through repeated summons to him in the Kotkapura firing incident.
Badal said in the letter that the case was a conspiracy to weaken the Akali Dal while maintaining that he had complete faith in the judiciary. The Special Investigation Team of the Punjab Police probing the 2015 Kotakpura police firing incident in Punjab last month filed a charge sheet in a court in Faridkot, in which then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal were named.
While Parkash Singh was granted an anticipatory bail in the case by the court last week, the court dismissed the plea of his son and Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. Parkash Badal said that what happened during the tenure of his government was unfortunate. He however alleged that there was a “deep conspiracy to destroy the peace and communal harmony of Punjab”.
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ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਵਾਲੀ ਸੂਬਾ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੀ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਬਦਲਾਖੋਰੀ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਸ. ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਬਾਦਲ ਸਾਬ੍ਹ ਦੀ ਪੰਜਾਬੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਨਾਂਅ ਖੁੱਲ੍ਹੀ ਚਿੱਠੀ।
— Shiromani Akali Dal (@Akali_Dal_) March 20, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
S Parkash Singh Badal writes an open letter to all Punjabis exposing vendetta politics of @AAPPunjab government. pic.twitter.com/bgVZDAEfKz
">ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਵਾਲੀ ਸੂਬਾ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੀ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਬਦਲਾਖੋਰੀ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਸ. ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਬਾਦਲ ਸਾਬ੍ਹ ਦੀ ਪੰਜਾਬੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਨਾਂਅ ਖੁੱਲ੍ਹੀ ਚਿੱਠੀ।
— Shiromani Akali Dal (@Akali_Dal_) March 20, 2023
S Parkash Singh Badal writes an open letter to all Punjabis exposing vendetta politics of @AAPPunjab government. pic.twitter.com/bgVZDAEfKz
ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਵਾਲੀ ਸੂਬਾ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੀ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਬਦਲਾਖੋਰੀ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਸ. ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਜੀ ਬਾਦਲ ਸਾਬ੍ਹ ਦੀ ਪੰਜਾਬੀਆਂ ਦੇ ਨਾਂਅ ਖੁੱਲ੍ਹੀ ਚਿੱਠੀ।
S Parkash Singh Badal writes an open letter to all Punjabis exposing vendetta politics of @AAPPunjab government. pic.twitter.com/bgVZDAEfKz
Also read: Kotkapura police firing case: SIT seeks additional information from public
Saying that he was in favor of a fair investigation into the incident and exemplary punishment to all the accused, the senior Badal said, “It is a pity that after the completion of our tenure, there has been continuous politics on it”. In the open letter to the people of Punjab, Badal said the previous Congress government had politicized the matter for five years on "some unfortunate incidents" during the Akali regime and claimed that the AAP government also did the same.
The five-time chief minister made a direct reference to the police firing in Faridkot's Behbal Kalan and Kotakpura in 2015 and said that two law and order related incidents took place during this incident which were extremely unfortunate. Badal said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's government's move to “implicate” him in a "false" case was "highly immoral, extremely dangerous to democracy and a conspiracy to undermine the constitutional status of the Chief Minister".
“This is the height of vendetta politics,” he alleged. Parkash Singh Badal also said that Punjab was the “land of gurus, pirs, martyrs and heroes”. “This land has a unique, wonderful history. Punjabis have always resisted tyranny and injustice. This great land has given all humanity peace, tranquility, brotherhood and 'Manas ki Jaat Sabhai Ek Pahchanbo,' he said.
Pertinently, the case relates to the killing of two people in the aftermath of theft of a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, handwritten sacrilegious posters, and pages of the holy book torn at Bargari in Faridkot in the year 2015. The two people were killed during protests at Behbal Kalan even as a few were injured at Kotkapura in police firing.
