JALANDHAR: Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal was given a Jathi blow at the government rally here on March 14 resulting in his fall on the ground and minor injuries.
While Indian Express attributed the injury to police, the Chandigarh based Tribune ex pressed ignorance and said that “someone from the crowd pushed him on the chest and his pullover was torn.” According to a report, the Tribune management expunged the word police and substituted it for someone in the crowd to cover up the police excesses against the Akali leader. Next day when he blamed the Punjab police chief K.P.S.Gill for running the state as its real ruler, the Tribune again blacked the statement out and attributed another statement to Badal thanking the media for good coverage of his party’s rally.
Meanwhile Badal has called a meeting of his functionaries at Amritsar on March 19 to review the political situation after the government virtually banned the Jalandhar rally.
It may be recalled that Punjab police chief Gill had advised the government more than a week earlier that the rally should not be allowed to be held as it would help the revival of Sikh militancy.
The government left the matter to be decided by the Jalandhar police which practically banned the rally.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 19, 1993
