Akali Dal leader insults Bhagat Singh, says freedom fighter was a terrorist

New Delhi, Sept 7: Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann created a stir on Monday by calling martyr Bhagat Singh a terrorist.

The Punjab and Haryana governments are having differences over the naming of Chandigarh International Airport which will soon be inaugurated by PM Modi.

Simranjit Singh Mann while objecting to the naming of the airport after martyr Bhagat Singh said that Bhagat Singh was a terrorist.

"Bhagat Singh is neither a martyr nor a national hero. He is a terrorist. We are against the naming of Chandigarh International airport as Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Airport," Mann was quoted as saying in a Indiatoday report.

Slamming Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for failing to set-up an International airport in Amritsar, Mann further said, "Badal took the international airport project to Chandigarh so that the land purchased by him and his relatives get a higher price.

Even if he has done so he should desist from naming the airport as Bhagat Singh who was a terrorist. Instead, he should dedicate the airport to Baba Banda Singh Bahadur-the Sikh warrior who had defeated the Mughals."

According to Mann, Bhagat Singh was a terrorist because he had killed an 'innocent' man Saunders and a Sikh - Chanan Singh.

Earlier alsi in 2007, Mann had said something similar about Bhagat Singh and was also arrested in Patiala.

Earlier, a British historian had also branded him as "terrorists", during a lecture on 'Nonviolent Resistance In India during 1915-1947' in Surat, sparking a controversy.

Warwick University's professor David Hardiman said, "Terrorist groups, who predate Mahatma Gandhi, were always there alongside Gandhi's non-violent movement."

"Some of these famous figures were Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, who were involved in organisations like Hindustan Republic Association (HRA) and Hindustan Republic Socialist Association (HRSA)," the professor of United Kingdom's history said.

OneIndia News