Election Commission appoints 15 expenditure observers in Punjab
Chandigarh, October 12 – The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said it was unfortunate that the scion of a family which had fed on the crumbs of Ahmed Shah Abdali who was responsible for Sikh genocide in the form of ‘vadda ghallughara’ and later day collusion with the British against Maharaja Ranjit Singh and even the freedom fighters was talking about peoples’ struggles and the respect that should be accorded to leaders who dedicated their lives to the State and its people.
In a statement here, senior SAD leaders including mps Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Balwinder Singh Bhundur and Ranjit Singh Brahmpura besides cabinet ministers Sikander Singh Maluka and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said it was astonishing that Amritsar mp Capt Amarinder Singh, whose family had betrayed the Sikh community and even the freedom fighters, was becoming an authority on peoples’ movements and the role of various leaders in the same.
The leaders said Amarinder should search his conscience and apologise for the actions of his family so that the Sikh community could find closure for the genocide known as ‘vadda ghallughara’ which occurred in Sangrur district in 1762 when Ahmed Shah Abdali massacred Sikhs in their thousands. The leaders said the founder of the Phulkian dynasty and Amarinder’s forefather Baba Ala Singh colluded with Abdali and remained a silent spectator to the genocide to earn Abdali’s favour. The leaders said Abdali subsequently bestowed royal trappings to Ala Singh. Challenging Amarinder to deny if these facts were wrong, the SAD asked him to why he had never apologized to the Sikhs for the conduct of his forefathers.
Not only this, Mr Dhindsa, Mr Bhundur and Mr Brahmpura said Amarinder’s forefathers had also perfected the art to collusion against the Sikh community by siding with the British against Maharaja Ranjit Singh and later against the freedom fighters. They said Amarinder’s forefathers entered into a treaty with the British against Ranjit Singh in 1808 to become collaborators in the grand empire building process initiated by the English. They said subsequently Maharaja Karam Singh also helped the English during the first Sikh war in 1845.
Mr Maluka and Dr Cheema said this was not the end of the infamy achieved by Amarinder’s forefathers. They said Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of the Patiala State mercilessly crushed the Praja Mandal movement started by Sewa Singh Thikriwala who even died in jail.
Speaking about Capt Amarinder himself, the SAD leaders said the Amritsar mp, who had even abandoned his constituents, believed in hit and scoot tactics. “Amarinder loves to hit out at the SAD and then disappear for long periods as has happened recently with press releases being issued in his name even when he was holidaying with his cronies in England for the last one month”. Urging Amarinder not to let out the frustration of this own failures at the SAD, the leaders urged him to respect those who had fought for the common good and even been jailed for it. They said Amarinder could even learn a lesson from freedom fighters as well as other leaders who had stood up against tyranny be it apartheid or emergency unlike him who had never stood up to be counted or jailed even once while fighting for a public cause.
