Mann flays Amarinder, Badal for their 'anti-Sikh' postures

New Delhi, Apr 30 (UNI) Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann today accused both Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his predecessor and Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal of adopting ''anti-Sikh'' posture for furthering their political interests which he claimed have caused a strong resentment among the people of minority community.

Capt Amarinder Singh honoured General(retd) R S Dayal, knowing fully well that he had played a leading role in the Army attack at the Golden Temple in June 1984, he said.

''He himself had resigned from the then ruling Congress protesting against the decision of sending armed forces into the Golden Temple'', Mr Mann said in a statement here.

Similarly, he said, Mr Badal is to join BJP president Rajnath Singh's 'Bharat Surakhsa Yatra' which would pass through Punjab in next two days, ignoring the fact that his yatra was aimed at consolidating the majority community on the' Hindutva agenda' against the minorities in the country.

Mr Badal had refrained from condemning the killings of members of the Mulims community in the aftermath of the Godhra episode in Gujarat in 2002 which were on the lines of killings of Sikhs in November 1984 in Delhi and other cities of the country following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Akali said.

Mr Mann said, ''In fact, both these leaders now take Sikhs as a defeated lot with no capacity to react to whatever ''humiliations'' they would like to heap on them (Sikhs). But they (leaders) are oblivious of the fact, their actions have been hurting the sentiments of the community and will not be condoned in the long-run.'' The Akali leader also said his party workers would oppose the BJP 'Rath Yatra' in Punjab in a 'befitting manner' but declined to spell out the manner of his party's protest.

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