:dateline:Joining issue with the AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on�proposing to accord the holy city status for Amritsar if AAP comes to power, the�Dal Khalsa said it�s a calculated attempt aimed to exploit the sentiments of�Sikhs to woo their votes in the upcoming Punjab assembly elections in 2017.�
The party’s ex-president, H S Dhami, said the nomenclature of the holy city status�for Amritsar was first sought in the 1980’s, which was not only rejected by the�then government but also opposed by Hindu chauvinist groups including the BJP�by giving it communal colour.�It was one of the pressing demands included�in the Anandpur Sahib resolution which was wrongly 
dubbed as a secessionist document�by the Indian establishment, said he.
However, all political demands and issues changed once the army attacked the�Darbar Sahib in 1984 and the edifice of Akal Takht was brought to rubble.
One thing is clear, after passing through a tumultuous period and�sacrificing so many lives during the Sikh struggle, the demand of the holy city�status has been far left behind. The community has set its new agenda.�For�us, now�the foremost issue is the independence of Punjab�, said Dhami�taking a dig at politicians playing with the emotions of the people at the time of�elections for their petty gains.�
If present day politicians including Kejriwal think that they could win�over the hearts of the Sikhs with such poll gimmicks, then they were highly�mistaken, said he.
