SAD chief, leaders protest Majithia’s arrest, detained in Mohali; AAP slams Akali Dal

Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and other Akali leaders were on Wednesday detained in Mohali, where they had come to express solidarity with party leader Bikram Singh Majithia who was arrested last month in a disproportionate assets case.

Majithia was produced before a court in Mohali after his seven-day vigilance remand ended on Wednesday. The court extended his remand by four days. Heavy police deployment was made outside the Vigilance Bureau office and the district court complex.

Badal, along with party leaders Sikander Singh Maluka and Parambans Singh Bunty Romana, was detained near the Amb Sahib gurdwara.

When Badal and the other leaders tried to walk towards the gurdwara, police stopped them. Police after detaining Badal and other SAD leaders took them to a police station.

Later, the Akali leaders were released by police.

The SAD president was visiting the gurdwara to pay obeisance, after which he was scheduled to lead Akali workers to the state VB office to protest against “political vendetta unleashed against Majithia”.

In a video, the former deputy chief minister could be heard asking a police official to let him go as he wanted to pay obeisance at the gurdwara.

He said: “Are they (AAP government) so scared of Akali workers? I am going to pay obeisance at the gurdwara.”

Speaking to reporters, Badal accused the AAP government of “murdering” the democratic rights of people.

“They cannot scare us. Every single Akali worker will stand firm against the AAP government’s oppression and fight back. (Chief Minister) Bhagwant Mann’s frustration has proven that he is rattled by the soaring spirits of Shiromani Akali Dal workers,” he said.

He lashed out at the AAP government for preventing Akali workers from going to the gurdwara by “misusing” police. Badal earlier claimed that several Akali workers headed to Mohali to express solidarity with Majithia were detained by police. According to the SAD, many party workers in Amritsar, Beas, Patiala and other places were “detained” at their residences.

Describing the “crackdown” on Akalis as worse than the one during the Emergency, he said, “not even during those days were Sikhs stopped from going to their sacred shrines.”