LUDHIANA: The Akali Dal (Mann) has launched a state wide movement to prepare the newly Elected Panchayats for fighting Stale Oppression and police excesses. Simranjit Singh Mann the President of the party recently addressed the village representatives at Bakapur in Ropar district and Talware in Fategarh Sahib District. He said they took oath in Presence of the holy Guru Granth Sahib jee that they would oppose the visit of any minister to their village and oppose repression. Mann would address a similar Meeting at Chabberwal village in Nurpur Bedi area on February 14, He would spend’ four days in Gurdaspur district from February 15 onwards followed by Amritsar, Patti, Hoshiarpur, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Ropar up to Holla Mohala at Anandpur Sahib on March 8, The remaining districts would be covered afterwards.
Mann said that an emergency meeting of the party had been summoned at Ludhiana on Friday to “discuss and finalize a strategy to meet the challenge of the Indian state.” He said that advocates, doctors, journalists, religious bodies, transport workers and human rights organizations had been invited to attend the meeting. The meeting would be held at Gurdwara Akalgarh and chalk out the Strategy.
Mann expressed concern that no section of society in Punjab was now safe at the hands of the police. He criticized the extension of Disturbed Areas Act in Punjab as a ploy to continue genocide of the Sikh community.
On this occasion, he released a detailed account of how advocate Kulwant Singh Saini, his wife and son were “murdered” by the Ropar police on Jan.25 last. Saini was district general secretary of the SAD (Mann).
The party field a habeas corpus petition in the high court to seek his release but even that did not succeed. Mann denied that the three were eliminated by Babbar Khalsa activists as claimed by the police.
He has demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting high court judge into the incident. He quoted a number of instances where some Sikhs had been killed or had disappeared.
Economic Failure Simranjit Singh Mann, has appealed to Sikhs in India to withdraw all their money from local banks since he feared a sharp devaluation of the rupee immediately. Addressing a press conference, here, on Feb,11, Mann said they should invest this money in foreign currencies such as dollar, mark, yen etc. or purchase property and construct houses,
He advised against investment in gold and silver in view of wide fluctuations in their prices, of late.
Mann observed that the Indian economy could not revive. He welcomed the refusal of British businessmen accompanying Prime Minister John Major to invest in India unless political stability was restored here.
According to the Akali leader, India was destabilizing on all fronts, such as political, economic and ethical.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 19, 1993
