The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) held protests in all 117 assembly constituencies across Punjab on Saturday to protest the Congress government’s “deep rooted conspiracy to weaken Sikh institutions as well as the Sikh Panth in league with radical elements and AAP leaders.”
An SAD spokesman said party workers along with senior leaders took to the streets in each constituency raising slogans against the Congress government.
Effigies of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar as well as radical leaders such as Baljit Singh Daduwal were burnt, he said.
SAD workers condemned Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar for “threatening” them that they would not be allowed to enter villages. They warned the Congress that they stood for maintaining peace and communal harmony and that Congress should desist from instigating violence.
Akali Dal leaders said the Congress government was in league with radical groups and was hatching a conspiracy to defame the SAD in order to take control over the Sikh religious institutions, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
They said that the Amrinder Singh-led Congress government was trying to implement its “anti-Sikh agenda” for its petty political goals as it did in 1980s to take control over the Sikh religious institutions as well as push the state back in to the dark era of terrorism.