Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa today sought an explanation from Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal over an official report alleging displacement of Sikhs, mainly agriculturists, from Kutch in Gujarat, by the BJP, politial ally of the SAD.
Bajwa said the report by the National Minorities Commission, published in a newspaper today, alleged the Modi government had discriminated against the Sikh community in Kutch by ordering them to sell their lands and return to Punjab as they were not Gujaratis, citing the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948.
The Congress leader said this showed the "anti-minority mindset" of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
He said the Gujarat High Court had struck down the order of the state government asking farmers to sell their lands and return to Punjab.
The state government had now challenged this verdict in the Supreme Court, the Punjab Congress chief said.
The Sikhs from Punjab had migrated to Kutch after they were invited by former Prime Minister late Lal Bahadur Shastri who felt this white marshy land should be inhabited as a buffer against invasion from the sea, he said.
The Sikhs worked hard to make this land fit for cultivation and contributed their bit in green revolution, Bajwa said.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was keeping mum on the matter, he said.
A deputation of Sikhs from Gujarat had also met Badal but they failed to get any assurance, Bajwa said.
Badal should have used his clout to withdraw legal proceedings against the Sikh farmers in the larger national interest, he said.
Bajwa dubbed the political alliance between the SAD and the BJP as "opportunist and driven by business interests" of the Badal family.
