Sikhs Attacked by Government Forces at Ghadri Babas’ Village of Dhudike: 1978 All Over Again

Dhudike

MOGA, Punjab—Once again, the forces of Punjab Chief minister Parkash Badal tried to revive the history of the 1978 massacre when 13 Singhs protesting peacefully against a function by Narakdharis backed by the then tenure of Parkash Badal were shot dead cruelly.

Dhudike 2On Tuesday, walking on the same path, Punjab Police attacked Sikhs brutally who were protesting against the blasphemous act of dera Sirsa at village Dhudike (Moga) to woo dera followers ahead of Lok Sabha elections in 2014. The police charged the protestors with batons and let loose volleys of tear gas shells—they even fired live rounds against Sikh protesters who were furious over the “Naam Charcha” organized by the followers of the Sirsa cult. This led to several Sikhs being injured.

80 protesters were reportedly booked under section 295-A, 307, 436, 506, 427, 336, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 25, 27, 54 and 61 of the Arms Act on the complaint of dera cultist Gurmail “Singh”, a resident of Butter Kalan village in Moga district.

On Monday night, when followers of Dera Sirsa conducted a block level “Naam Charcha” at Ghadri Babas’ village during which they were about to hurt Sikh sentiments by misinterpreting Sikh scripture, local Sikhs united immediately and strongly opposed this function. But still with the support of the state government, the dera followers began to set up the tent for the event.

At night, after seeing no action had been taken to stop the blasphemous act, Sikh men uprooted the tent and set ablaze two vehicles owned by Dera cultists. The police registered a case of sacrilege against members of Sikh organizations and rounded up three people. This caused villagers to become enraged and they, along with activists of Sikh organizations, blocked the Moga-Ludhiana national highway for the release of three Sikhs including village leader sarpanch Jasbir Singh.

The police personnel gave assurances to Sikh leaders that they will withdraw the cases and release the detainees.  With the police assurances, Sikh outfits lifted the Dharna protest but Dera followers again began to setup a tent to conduct the highly offensive “Naam Charcha” which Sikhs later cited objections to.

However, police were seen supporting the Sirsa cultists while they started their so-called “Naam Charcha” and dispersed Sikh protesters. This caused the Sikhs to go out of control and riot. As soon as the “Naam Charcha” started, Sikh protests became more inflamed. This led to a clash between both sides, but with their biased approach, police brutally attacked only Sikh protesters to disperse them using  baton charges, tear gas shells and gun shots.

Leaders of various Panthik organizations strongly condemned the actions by the Punjab government and termed them as an anti-Panthik agenda.

It is notable that the government has always been targeting Sikhs in Sikh-dera clashes and no action is taken against dera cultists. Be it Punjab or Haryana, all walk on the same track while the judiciary also plays a biased role.

Recently, All 5 Dera Sirsa cultists were acquitted by the Sirsa Court in Shaheed Bhai Harmandar Singh’s murder case—this is the latest in a long line of rape, murder and theft acquittals for the cultists.

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