Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh– Shiromani Akali Dal president and former Deputy Chief Minister ,Punjab, Sardar Sukhbir Singh Badal today staged a strong potest dharana outside the residence of Sonia Ganhi to highlight the injustice meted out to the survivors of thousands of innocent Sikh men , women and children who were killed during the free India ‘s worst massacre in history.
Later, Mr Badal courted arrest, along with the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Jathedar Manjit Singh GK and other senior Akali leaders including Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Bikram Singh Majithia, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Mr Maheh Inder Singh Grewal , Baldev Singh Mann, Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Manjinder Singh Sirsa many others . Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal also took part in the protests.
Giving details of the protest programme , party’s spokesperson Harcharan Bains told newspersons outside Tughlak Road Police station here that thousands of Akali workers joined Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal during the Dharna.
Earlier Mr Badal and other Akali leaders performed Ardas at Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib before proceeding in a march to Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s residence. Once outside her residence, the Akali leaders and workerssat in a dharna for nearly two hours. They burnt effigies of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and other Congress leaders accused of masterminding and executing the massacre of Sikhs in the first week of November 1984 following the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Thousands of Sikh were torched alive by putting burning tyrers around their necks. Their houses were looted and later burnt. The pogrom went on for five days without the police or the army intervening.
When Mr Badal, Mr Manjit Singh GK, Mr Bikram Singh Majithia and other Akali leaders started marching straight towards the gates of Sonia Gandhi’s residence by forcibly crashing through the strong police barricades, they were arrested by the Delhi police which was deployed there in great strength. The leaders were then taken to the Tughlak Road police station where they were detained for about two hours.
Addressing mediapersons Mr Badal said that the 1984 massacre happened directly under orders of the Gandhi household. The then Prime Minister Mr Rajiv Gandhi, instead of feeling any remorse over the shameless massacre, actually went on to justify the brutal and merciless killings of thousands of innocent Sikhs by declaring that when a big tree falls, the earth trembles. Mr Badal said he wished Mr Rajiv Gandhi had seen that when he himself was assassinated, the earth did not tremble because the governments of the day showed the necessarily political and administrative will to control the anti social elements. “November 1984 tragedy was not a riot because it was not a fight among communities. It was plain and simple massacre of innocents by the Congress killers.”
Mr Badal said that the whole world knows who the guilty of the 1984 massacre are, and yet the Congress not only blocked justice in the matter when it was in power but actually destroyed evidence making it difficult even for the successive governments to ensure exemplary punishment to the guilty. The Congress rewarded the killers with cabinet berths. “
Mr Badals said that the SAD’s fight for justice of the victims of the 1984 massacre would continue.
Others present in the protest march included Gulzar Singh Ranike, Hira Singh Gabria,,Daljit Singh Cheema, Rosy Bargandi, Pawan Kumar Tinu , MLA Baldev Khaira, Gurpartap Wadala, Harinderpal Chandumajra, Satpalk mall, Winnerjit Goldy,
