Punjab CM opposes move to remove INC president from Jallianwala Bagh trust

Chandigarh, July 10: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has described as "completely wrong" the move to bring a bill which seeks to remove the Congress president as a permanent member in a trust that runs the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial.

The bill, moved by Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel in Lok Sabha on Monday, states that it seeks to "delete" the mention of 'President of the Indian National Congress' as a trustee.

The stated aim of the move is to make the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial apolitical. A similar bill was brought by the previous government but it could not get parliamentary nod and lapsed.

"It is completely wrong to remove Congress party (president) from the trust. The Congress has been associated with Jallianwala Bagh (memorial) from the day one it was set up," he told reporters here Tuesday.

The trust has the prime minister as the chairperson, and president of the Indian National Congress, the culture minister, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Punjab governor and Punjab CM as its members.

The memorial was established in 1951 by the central government to mark the massacre of unarmed people on April 13, 1919 by the British Indian Army under the command of Col Reginald Dyer. To a question on state minister Navjot Singh Sidhu yet to assume the charge of his power department, the chief minister refused to comment.

The BJP has written to Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore, seeking his intervention to end the "stalemate" between Singh and Sidhu, claiming consumers were suffering as the power department has remained "unattended" for over a month now.