The Punjab Congress is in a soup after a security guard attached to party MLA Harminder Singh Jassi was picked up by the Mumbai police in connection with the killing of a Sikh youth
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Congress is in a soup after a security guard attached to party MLA Harminder Singh Jassi was picked up by the Mumbai police in connection with the killing of a Sikh youth there.
Punjab police commando Makhan Singh was unofficially accompanying Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh during his visit to Mumbai and is believed to have been involved in firing that led to the killing of the Sikh youth. Makhan Singh has since been suspended from service.
Jassi incidentally is related to the Dera chief and is believed to have lent his security personnel to the latter in violation of regulations.
Jassi, however, sought to distance himself from the commando saying he was accompanying the Dera chief as a devotee and had been on leave.
The incident has again exposed the close ties between Congress leaders and the Dera chief, who had issued a public appeal in the last assembly elections in Punjab to his followers to support the party. This soured his relations with the Akalis, leading to intense confrontations with them subsequently.
Defending himself, the Dera chief in a public address in Sirsa on Sunday, said
his was an apolitical organisation. Expressing concern at the ongoing confrontation with the Sikhs, he said he was open to all negotiations to resolve the present tangle.
He said the recent controversy was being wrongly projected as a battle between the Dera Sacha Sauda and Sikhs.
He added that Sikhs were not against him as a large number of Sikhs were followers of his Dera.
The religious leader categorically said he revered the Sikh gurus and would continue to do so.
Asked about the orders of the CBI court in Ambala regarding his chargesheet
in a rape case, the Dera chief pointed out that there was a difference in being chargesheeted and being convicted.
Quizzed why he kept his personal security despite being provided Z-plus security from the government, the Dera chief wondered when Gods like Ram and Krishna could keep their own forces why there was so much controversy over his bodyguards. He added it was the Dera management which analysed his security requirements on a day-to-day basis.
On his role during the forthcoming parliamentary polls, he reiterated the Dera Sacha Sauda was purely a religious organisation and had nothing to do with politics.
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