With political parties criticising his party for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Sikhs, AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has decided to visit Golden Temple on July 18 to perform ‘sewa’ (volunteer service).
“Like a humble ‘sewak’ (volunteer) and a true ‘aam aadmi’ (common man), (Arvind) Kejriwalji will perform ‘sewa’ at Sri Harmandar Sahib, Amritsar on 18th July, 2016,” Aam Aadmi Party member and Senior Supreme Court lawyer HS Phoolka said in a statement issued here today.
AAP, which has been eyeing to wrest power in Punjab from the SAD-BJP combine after the 2017 Assembly polls, has been under fire from political opponents for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Sikhs.
The party has been facing the ire for using the image of Golden Temple on the cover of its youth poll manifesto with its election symbol ‘broom’ superimposed on it.
Political opponents, including Congress and SAD-BJP, have been hitting out at AAP leader Ashish Khetan for allegedly comparing the manifesto with Guru Granth Sahib and other religious books.
Despite Khetan tendering an apology while admitting his “mistake”, SAD-BJP and Congress have been unsparing in their attack on AAP and in terming the act “sacrilege”.
Rejecting Khetan’s apology, SAD has sought an apology from Kejriwal over the issue.
On microblogging website Twitter, Phoolka wrote, “We will apologise from Guru. But will take Badals head on, they have been using Sikh Panth for their personal gains.”
ਇਕ ਨਿਮਾਣੇ ਸੇਵਕ ਤੇ ਇਕ ਸੱਚੇ ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਵਾਂਗ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਰਵਿੰਦ ਕੇਜਰੀਵਾਲ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਹਰਿਮੰਦਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ, ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ ਵਿਖੇ 18 ਜੁਲਾਈ ਨੂੰ ਸੇਵਾ ਕਰਨਗੇ।@ArvindKejriwal
— H S Phoolka (@hsphoolka) July 8, 2016
In another tweet, he wrote, “Badals using SGPC for their political motives. Makkar should resign as President SGPC for adopting double standard.”
In yet another tweet, he wrote, “Reply to Badal’s demand for @ArvindKejriwal apology- when Majithia distorted Gurbani – did Badal apologised, did SGPC registered FIR.”
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar said yesterday they would file a court case against Kejriwal and authors of the manifesto Kanwar Singh Sandhu and Ashish Khetan for the “blasphemous act”.
AAP slams Badals for double standards
AAP accused the Badal government of adopting double standards, citing a 2014 incident ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, when Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia had allegedly distorted a hymn (shabad) of tenth Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh while campaigning for BJP candidate from Amritsar Arun Jaitley saying that too was an act of hurting sentiments.
“If Majithia subsequently apologised for his blasphemous act, so did Ashish Khetan. Why then the Parkash Singh Badal-led government is adopting different yardsticks for Majithia and Khetan,” said an AAP leader.