CHANDIGARH: Akali Dal (Mann) president Simranjit Singh Mann will lead the Akali march from Akal Takht to Delhi on Noy.1, following the arrest of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Singh Tolirato protest against sacrilege of gurdwara Gurusar at Gujjarwal in Ludhiana district.
Addressing a news conference here on Oct.22, Mann said he had no differences with Tohra on his issue, He expressed the resolve to observe bhog ceremony of Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, the assassins of Indira Gandhi, at Akal Takht on Oct.31,
He condemned the arrest of Tohra, Parkash Singh Badal, Surjit Singh Barnala, Jagdev Singh Talwandi and other Akali leaders and said the Akalis had been denied the right to assemble peace fully, He alleged Chief Minister Beant Singh had made Punjab a fascist state where the right of dissent was not allowed:
He took a serious view of the “siege” of Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar by the Army and said he would go there to ascertain the facts. He said neither the taking of weapons inside the shrine nor its siege was justified. He agreed with US Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphel’ that any military solution would read to the same results as Operation Blue star He warned the center of serious con sequences both internally and internationally if this shrine was razed to the ground like Babri Masjid.
Mann said sensing defeat in the forthcoming Assembly elections, Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao was trying to outdo the Bharatiya Janata Party through acts of vandalizing the religious and cultural heritage of the Muslims. He said his party would work for the defeat of both the Congress (I) and the BJP in the Assembly elections as both these pares were the two sides of the same coin, The Akali Dal (Mann) would support the third force in these elections, He felt the decision of Akal Dal (Manjit) to contest Assembly elections in Dethi would only help the Congress (I), He denounced the “unholy allieance” beiween Akali Dal (Badal) and the BJP. He congratulated” Benazir Bhutto on her election as Pakistan’s Prime Minister.
On the controversy regarding the: Jathedar of Akal Takht, the Akali Dal leader said his party recognized Ranjit Singh as Akal Takht Jathedar. Regarding the claim staked by Jasbir Singh Rode, he said the issue could be resolved through mutual discussions:
Article extracted from this publication >> October 29, 1993
