Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will visit the Punjab’s Faridkot district on Thursday and meet the families of victims of police firing during a protest against a sacrilege incident in the town. He will also meet farmers in Bathinda district during his two-day visit.
Gandhi is likely to visit the families of Gurjit Singh and Krishan Singh of Sarawan and Niamiwala village, respectively. Both were killed in police firing, when Sikh groups were protesting against the sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib at Argari village in Faridkot on October 14.
The police drew flak for firing on protesters from the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Later, the government set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident and booked “unknown” police officials under charges of murder and Arms Act.
“Gandhi will meet the families of the victims on his two-day programme of Punjab starting tomorrow,” said Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa. Besides, he will also meet farmers at Bathinda. At present, paddy procurement is going on in the state.
Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has asked Congress vice-president to disclose if he had ever visited the family members of the 1984 riots.
Senior SAD leader Manjit Singh GK said Gandhi should tell the people why he had never tried to console or share the grief of even one of the thousands of Sikh families whose near and dear ones were killed in 1984. He said the Congress scion’s visit was politically motivated.