PATIALA: The SGPC president, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, on Sunday denied he ever met the Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, as alleged by the Akali leader Simranjit Singh Mann.
Talking to newsmen here, he said that he had not met any Prime Minister or Union Home Minister after Operation Bluestar. Tohra offered to accept any punishment if Mann proved that he ever met any Prime Minister or Union Home Minister, after May 26, 1984.
Tohra said that he had received a letter from Mann asking him to issue the “white paper” on Operation Bluestar and had already sent a reply. Mann should have been convinced by that letter and should extend a helping hand to bring out the white paper.
Referring to Mann’s allegation that he had violated his decision announced during the Anandpur Sahib conclave of not seeking any office in “near future”, Tohra said that it was his personal decision, which was nullified by the directive of the SGPC members. Mann has been raising this issue; he said only to cover up the humiliating defeat of his party candidate.
He said that if Mann wanted that the SGPC should adopt a resolution in favor of a sovereign Sikh state, Mann should clarify his own stand on this demand as earlier he was for “Khalsa raj” and later right of self-determination.
He described the visit of S.B. Chavan to the state as mere “eyewash” and said that the intention of the government had become clear, when Chavan disclosed that the Army would stay put in Punjab even after the poll. It should be condemned by all political parties, he added.
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