Sacrilege caused pain to Sikhs: Sukhbir Singh Badal

Ferozepur: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday attended Bhog (culmination) of 'Akhand Path' (recitation of hymns) here at Gurudwara Jamni Sahib in village Bajidpur and prayed for strengthening communal harmony, peace and amity in the state.

Addressing a gathering, he said the recent happenings, such as the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib have caused immense pain not only to the Sikh community, but also to the humanity as a whole.

"He is also deeply saddened and anguished by these ignominious happenings," he said.

He emphasised that the sole motive of the Punjab Government is to put the culprits responsible for these reprehensible incidents, behind the bars and bring out the truth before the public.

Assuring the people, the Deputy Chief Minister said that the state government is fully committed to maintain peace and communal harmony in the state and nobody would be allowed to vitiate the atmosphere.

He said that the police is investigating the incidents minutely so as to get to the root of the problem.

He said that the motive behind the sacrilege incidents of Guru Granth Sahib is to weaken the State, Shiromani Akali Dal, Akal Takht Sahib and Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), but the entire Sikh community and the Punjab Government would not allow the nefarious designs of such anti- social forces to succeed.

On the attacks on the SGPC members, MLAs of SAD, the Deputy Chief Minister said that this is a deep rooted political conspiracy.

He announced that the Paths (prayers) of Akhand Path would be performed in every Vidhan Sabha constituency in order to strengthen the ties of peaceful co-existence and communal harmony.

The Government had chalked out a comprehensive plan for the development of the state in accordance with which every Vidhan Sabha constituency was to get Rs 25-50 crore for making Punjab a model state but some political forces inimical to the development, are fanning the fire of communalism to derail the all round development of the state, he said.

He appealed to the people to keep calm and assured that the state government would take severe action against the people responsible for these dastardly acts.

He said that the recent happenings would have no impact on the upcoming Investor Summit to be held this month at Mohali and more than 100 industrial giants would give their nod for investing in the state.