Punjab Youth Congress today lashed out at Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) for their "double standard" on the issue of a memorial of slain militants at Golden Temple.
Reacting sharply to a row over the inscription on the memorial, allegedly dedicated to slain militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and others killed during an Army operation to flush them out of the shrine, PYC president Vikramjit Singh Chaudhury said all the hue and cry was solely aimed at misleading the common man.
The SGPC executive committee's statement that it was unaware of the inscription on the memorial drew caustic remarks from the PYC president who questioned how it was that the SGPC chief had missed it when he visits the shrine almost on a daily basis.
"Doesn't this amount to...Insincerity by SGPC who now said the inscription citing Bhindranwale and others was covered with paint which was removed after the inauguration?" Chaudhury said.
The memorial has been built near the marbled periphery of the Golden Temple complex.
Chaudhury also alleged Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was trying to wash his hands off the matter which is why he had missed the memorial's inauguration despite being present in the city on April 27.
He alleged that the planning and execution of the said memorial suggested a deep conspiracy and warned the ruling SAD against taking advantage of such issues which threatened the hard earned peace in the state.
The memorial was inaugurated on April 27 at a low-key ceremony in the presence of SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar and Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh.
Both opposition Congress and BJP, which is part of the coalition in power in the state, had opposed construction of the memorial.
Bhindranwale, who was accused of amassing weapons in the Golden Temple and starting a major armed uprising, was killed during Operation Blue Star which took place between June 3 and June 8, 1984.
