SANGRUR: Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, on April 11, held Gurcharan Singh Tohra and Parkash Singh Badal responsible for the Operation Bluestar of 1984. He said they had misguided the Sikh youth to raise arms, and the misguided youth turned the Golden Temple and the Akal Takht into a fort to store the armory.

He was addressing a well-at- tended conference on the eve of the 128th birth anniversary of Sant Attar Singh, a pious soul of the area at his native place

Beant said that a conniving per- son like Tohra would never be excused, he was responsible for the sacrilege of Akal Takht and Golden Temple. He charged that the place of worship was turned into a place of hideout for the parlour of innocent persons and where women were raped at the behest of Tohra

He called Tohra a co did not dare to enter Temple from 1984 to to pay obeisance. He could the gurdwaras looked after in handsrd, who Golden 12, even hat how safely such a person who claims hit if to be custodian of Sikhs. Paying glowing tribu to Sant

Attar Singh, Beanted that gurdwaras and other areas of worship were safer in the nanus or such a pious soul who dedicated his life for service to the humanity. Speaking on the occasion, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, state Minister for Technical Education, lamented that the Sikh community who blotted due to the misrule and wrong policies of the Akalis but they never feel ashamed of their wrong doings.

She asked the Akalis to take some lessons from the devotion of Sant Attar Singh and advised them to follow his footsteps if they truly wanted to serve the Sikhs.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 15, 1994