Former Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar on Tuesday alleged there could be a role of Central agencies in the murder of a 35-year-old scheduled caste (SC) man from Punjab at the farmers’ protest site near Delhi border.

There is certainly something more than what meets the eye, the Congress leader said, adding that incidents of recent months point towards a concerted bid to paint the farmers’ struggle as one particular community and create divisions between Sikhs and Nihangs.

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In a statement, said the presence of a former Punjab police cop Gurmeet Singh ‘Pinky’, who was convicted for murder, highlighted in pictures of meetings of Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and the subsequent events at Singhu clearly point to the fact that Centre wants to foment religious strife in Punjab.

BJP has long been trying to tarnish the secular farmer struggle as a Sikh movement to term protesting Sikhs as militants. Punjabis are the sword arms of India, Jakhar said adding that they have made unparalleled sacrifices for national unity.

Presence of a former Punjab cop in a meeting of Union Minister raises serious questions over the intention of Centre, Jakhar asked while demanding a thorough investigation into events leading to the death at Singhu border.

Underlining that no amount of condemnation of this incident would ever be enough, Jakhar said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was conspiring to create a divide between Sikhs, Nihangs, farmers, and SC community urging them to remain vigilant against these nefarious designs.

Making it clear that presence of Nihangs at Delhi borders is by no means harmful for the protests, he said rather it is a deterrent against BJP attempts to evict protesting farmers from Delhi borders against their wishes.

If you look at the recent events through the prism of agencies, first a Haryana SDM publicly ordering his men to break heads of farmers, then Haryana Chief Minister asking people to pick up sticks followed by mowing down of farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri and then Singhu incident and now the increase of BSF jurisdiction to 50 kilometers, Jakhar said are steps of a well thought out plot against Punjab. The trail points to a well orchestrated strategy to derail the farmer agitations as well as defame sikhs, he added.

Jakhar advised BJP to stop playing with fire and accede to demands of farmers. He also appealed to state parties to come together and show solidarity with farmers and maintain communal harmony and religious brotherhood in the state.