Chandigarh, August 9, 2023: The Sikh community was facing discrimination since decades be it at the hands of the Congress party which attacked Sri Harmandar Sahib with tanks and mortars or the BJP led central government which was blatantly interfering in its religious affairs besides taking a u turn on all promises made to the community, said Former union minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, while participating in the discussion on the no confidence motion moved against the central government in the wake of ethnic violence in Manipur.
Mrs Harsimrat Badal, said “whom should we have confidence in? Congress governments attacked our holiest shrine and sponsored the genocide of Sikhs in 1984.
The Congress also denied us Punjabi speaking areas after reorganization of Punjab besides denying us our capital city Chandigarh and robbing us of our River waters”. She also took on Congress MP Rahul Gandhi saying the latter had roamed around the entire country but was yet to visit the only widow colony in the world in Delhi where the widows of the 1984 massacre were residing.
Asserting that promises made to the Sikhs in 1947 were not kept, Mrs Badal said “the community continues to face discrimination and asserted how the BJP led central government had even taken a u turn on a solemn commitment to free Sikh detainees on the 550th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji. “We seek an explanation from the central government as to why it has not released Bandi Singhs who have been incarcerated for more than 25 years”.
She also castigated the central government for persecuting Sikh youth by imposing NSA on them besides condemning NIA raids on respected organizations like Khalsa Aid who were serving the cause of humanity. Mrs Badal also focused on how the central government had reneged on its promise to make MSP a legal right of farmers after the three black laws on agriculture were withdrawn.
The Bathinda MP laid equal emphasis on pulling up the central government saying parliament needed to introspect on the slogan – Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwas and ask whether it had won over the faith of farmers and poorer sections of society and different religious communities besides the youth and women.
Asserting that atrocities against women were still occurring in the Amrit Kaal, Mrs Badal said “former prime minister’s assertion that it was a curse to take birth as a girl in this country on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of our freedom is true even today as was witnessed during the Manipur violence”. She also castigated the Minority Commission, which she said interfered in the religious affairs of the Sikh community on a daily basis, for failing to visit Manipur.
Calling for concrete steps to stop communal violence, Mrs Badal said “had the country set an example and ensured prompt punishment to the perpetrators of the 1984 genocide the situation would be very different now”.
