Days after two separate lynching incidents and ongoing unrest in Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday spoke out against “deliberate and malicious acts” intended to harm religious sentiments. Condemning the alleged sacrilege attempts at the Golden Temple in Amritsar and at a gurdwara in Kapurthala, the state Congress chief called for such miscreants to be “hanged in public”.
“Wherever sacrilege takes place, be it of Quran Sharif or Bhagavad Gita or Guru Granth Sahib, they (the guilty) should be hanged in public and given biggest constitutional punishment,” he said on Sunday. The MLA also contended that there was a conspiracy underway to disrupt Punjab’s peace.
Advocating for”deterrent punishment”, the cricketer-turned-politician said that such acts were not mistakes, but “a conspiracy to weaken and finish the society”.
“Punjab is built on a strong foundation of oneness and universal brotherhood laid down by Guru Sahib. No divisive forces can destroy the strong social fabric of the Punjabi community. Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings should be dealt with deterrent punishment,” he had tweeted on Sunday night.
Commenting on the sacrilege row, Punjab Congress leader Sunil Jakhar opined that attempts were being made to destabilise Punjab from across the border. “We may have political differences but no party can have such a disgusting mindset. I believe attempts to destabilise Punjab are being made from across the border. I condemn it but also urge that we should be calm and prudent,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
“I hope such incidents don’t happen again in future but maybe such attempts can be made again. Instead of acting out after accused is caught, they should be handed over for interrogation so that we could get to the root of such issues and decisive action can be taken,” he added.
In separate incidents, two men had been beaten to death within hours of each other at the end of last week. While the first incident took place on Saturday afternoon on the premises of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the second had occurred on Sunday at a gurudwara in Kapurthala district’s Nizampur area.
An unidentified youth had been beaten to death at the Golden Temple for attempting sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib. According to eyewitness accounts, he had been standing in line to offer prayers when he jumped over the rails in the Golden Temple sanctum sanctorum and picked up the ceremonial sword. The Punjab government has earlier said that a special investigative team had been constituted and would submit a report within two days.
While locals had alleged that the second incident was also linked to a sacrilege bid, police have since said that there were no visible signs of sacrilege in the lynching at Kapurthala Gurdwara. Allegedly, the man had been beaten to death by locals for disrespecting the ‘Nishan Sahib’ at the village Gurudwara.
