Citing the disadvantages of a separate Sikh state, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday made strong statements against separatists and “Khalistan supporters”.
The CM said, “Some Hindus came to me and asked if they would have to again leave the state. This is why we have been organising Sadbhawna rallies — to regain the confidence and trust of the people, especially Hindus, who were despondent due to the recent happenings in the state.”
He also linked the teachings of Sikh Gurus with the idea of ‘Hindustan’. He recalled that Sikh Gurus, Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Arjan Dev and Guru Teg Bhadur and Guru Gobind Singh and claimed that all Gurus were impressed with the idea of ‘Hindustan’.
Badal urged the people not to be swayed by “inimical forces” whose sole motive was to “emotionally blackmail Punjabis, especially Sikhs, in the name of religion.” He added that the state has already paid a heavy price for such gimmicks and could not suffer any more. “We have already been deprived of our religious shrines viz Gurdwara Sri Nankana Sahib and Sri Panja Sahib, that are now in Pakistan”.
The CM said, “If these anti-Punjab and anti-Panthic forces continued to tread on the same path tomorrow we might also be dispossessed of our sacred Takht Sri Patna Sahib in Patna (Bihar) and Takht Sri Hazoor Sahib Nanded in Maharashtra and merely left with no other option except repentance and agony.”