Dera, 'foreign hand' or bad handling? Why Punjab is on the boil over desecration of holy book

Chandigarh: Is there a foreign hand in fomenting communal trouble in Punjab? The state police believe so. For the last one week the state has been on the boil on the issue of desecration of a ‘bir’ of Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, at Bargari village in Faridkot district. As many as 110 pages of the book were found torn off. The ‘bir’ was stolen from the Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in June. There have been widespread protests in many parts of the state including Kotkapura, Moga and Faridkot. On Tuesday, paramilitary forces were deployed in four districts of Punjab –Amritsar, Jalandhar, Taran Taran and Ludhiana. Things took an ugly turn on 14 October when the police resorted to firing on protesters at Behbal Kalan village near Faridkot. The Union government has decided to send 10 companies of paramilitary to Punjab to prevent any further trouble. [caption id=“attachment_2477124” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sikh groups protest n Jalandhar against alleged desecration of religious book.PTI photo[/caption] The police has arrested two Sikh brothers - Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh - five days ago for their alleged links with radical elements abroad. The elements are suspected of having some role in the desecration of the holy book. Additional Director General of Police (Crime) IP Sahota claimed there was an intelligence input to establish the link. Sources in the police said they had initially intercepted the phone calls to the bothers from their handlers based in Australia, US and Dubai. Rupinder, who belongs to Panjgrain village in Faridkot district, had been admitted to Apollo hospital in Ludhiana after being injured in a clash with the police in Kotkapura last week. Police sources said that even while he was hospitalized, he was receiving calls from abroad. Speaking to the media in Chandigarh on Tuesday, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said the Punjab government would unearth all conspiracies behind the desecration at Bargari village which he said had led to emotional outbursts in the entire state. All the culprits would be arrested. “This conspiracy was conceived by rogue elements; we are committed to exposing such elements and punishing them,” he said. According to sources in the state government, the conspirators provided funds to the local culprits. The SGPC alleged that the situation would not have got out of control had the police acted in time. Its chief Avtar Singh Makkar flayed the Punjab Police for its inept handling of the situation even as trouble spread to various parts of Punjab. The SGPC also blamed the intelligence network for the unsatisfactory handling of the sensitive issue. The protests spread fast following mobilisation through audio and video messages on the social media and announcements in village gurdwaras. This, the SGPC said, could have been handled better. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has ordered a judicial inquiry by a high court judge into the incident and its aftermath and promised exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of this ‘dastardly’ act. But it has not helped bring down protests. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has announced Rs 1-crore reward to anybody giving information leading to the arrest of those who committed the act of sacrilege. The Punjab Cabinet that met on Tuesday adopted resolution to condemn sacrilege and expressed shock and grief over the death of two in police firing. The agitation was also fuelled by the recent outrage over the pardon granted by the Akal Takht to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan. It was alleged that the Dera followers had a hand in the desecration of the `Bir’. Former Takht Damdama Sahib jathedar Balwant Singh Nandgarh had suggested the involvement of dera followers in the incident. But the dera has denied having any role in the incident. Its chief even condemned the act of desecration. Capt Amarinder Singh, former Congress chief minister of Punjab and deputy leader of Lok Sabha alleged that the chief minister had lost control and the state was slowly drifting towards anarchy. He also demanded Badal’s resignation over the inept handling of the situation. Speaking to Firstpost, Professor (Retd) Manjit Singh of ‘Swaraj Abhiyan’, said only when the local leaders lose grip over people can outsiders foment trouble. “There may be foreign hand involved. It is for the police and the intelligence wings to investigate, but do leaders of the SAD, the BJP and other parties have any control over people? The present chaos is because the latter have lost faith in their leaders,” Manjit Singh said.