Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday said his government will not tolerate anybody trying to create a rift between communities and disturb the State’s secular fabric.
His reaction comes in the background of a statue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi being vandalised in Ludhiana by some persons on Tuesday.
Mr. Singh had claimed that the vandals owed allegiance to Shiromani Akali Dal and had asked its chief Sukhbir Singh Badal to apologise to the people of Punjab for the incident.
In an informal interaction with reporters on the second day of the three-day Shaheedi Jor Mel here, he said Sikh religion propagated communal harmony, which nobody would be allowed to disturb.
Recalling the sacrifice of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, his sons - Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh - and his mother Mata Gujri, the Chief Minister said the peace for which they had laid their lives will be sustained at all costs.
He was responding to questions on the incident in Ludhiana.
The Chief Minister accused the SAD for the Ludhiana incident and warned it to not to repeat such things, saying there were statues of several senior SAD leaders in various parts of Punjab.
The present Punjab government is committed and will protect statues of all leaders, he asserted.
‘Frustrated attempts’
The Congress leader alleged that the SAD was making “frustrated attempts” to spread communal hatred by fanning the flames of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and dragging the name of the Gandhi family.
