SGPC chief Dhami attacked in Mohali at protest demanding release of Sikh prisoners

Harjinder Singh Dhami claims he was invited to speak at protest site where his car came under attack. But organisers say they hadn't invited him & he was advised not to come.

SGPC president H. S. Dhami and a video grab of the incident showing people attacking his car | Twitter | @officeofssbadal

Chandigarh: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami was attacked Wednesday during the ongoing Quami Insaaf Morcha when he was leaving the protest site in Mohali.

Dhami along with members of SGPC executive committee had reached the site to address the protesters. The SGPC chief was attacked after he finished speaking and was leaving the protest site in his car.

“A large group of people at the protest site tried to stop my vehicle. One of them even lay down on the road in the front of the car while the others smashed the front and rear glass panes of my car,” Dhami told a press conference in Chandigarh. 

The Quami Insaaf Morcha is a permanent sit-in protest started on the Chandigarh-Mohali border on 7 January by a host of Sikh bodies to demand the release of Bandi Singhs.

Bandi Singhs are those Sikh prisoners who were arrested for militant activities during the days of militancy in Punjab and have completed their mandatory jail terms. The SGPC is among those Sikh bodies demanding the release of various Sikh prisoners for the past nine years.   

While Dhami claimed that he was attacked despite having been invited to the morcha to speak, the event organisers said the SGPC chief was told not to come as there was resentment among the protesters over certain contentious issues between them and the SGPC.

“Also we did not invite him to the morcha at all,” Balwinder Singh, one of the organisers of the protest, told a press conference in the evening.

When contacted, Public Relations Officer of the Chandigarh Police, Ram Gopal said that the information about any action into the incident will be shared in due course of time.

How it unfolded

A viral video shows that a group of at least 30 people at the protest site surround Dhami’s car and attack it with lathis and sharp-edged weapons. The video shows a nihang Sikh trying to put his hand inside the vehicle through the broken back panel and trying to pull Dhami from the car. “They are stooges of the Akali Dal,” one of the attackers is heard saying. 

Dhami said that the attack was part of a larger conspiracy by various forces to divide the Sikh community and make Sikhs fight with one another. He said that the move was an attempt at failing the movement that the SGPC along with several Sikh bodies had started to ensure the release of Bandi Singhs. 

The SGPC started a world-wide signature campaign for the release of nine Bandi Singhs in October last year.

“Almost 10 lakh persons have signed the forms online as well as otherwise. The campaign will end on 31 January. In February we will be handing over our memorandum address to the President along with the signatures to the Punjab Governor,” Dhami said.

“The SGPC is doing its utmost in joining other the Sikh bodies in the cause of the Bandi Singhs. And despite today’s incident, we will continue to support the organisers in the cause but whatever has happened is unfortunate and the responsibility of it goes to the organisers of the Morcha.” 

Attacking the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government, Dhami said, “The fact that this incident has happened despite the presence of police and the administration on the spot says a lot about the way the Punjab government is functioning.”  

Meanwhile, Balwinder Singh said Dhami “overlooked” the advice not to come to the protest site and had to “face the ire of some of the protesters”. 

“Some of us went to meet him in mid-December to seek his support in organising the Morcha from the Amb Sahib Gurdwara which is under SGPC’s control,” the protest organiser added.

At the same media briefing, another protest organiser Gurdeep Singh Bathinda said that the reason the SGPC is not welcome is because apart from the demand of the Bandhi Singhs, the sangat at the morcha is also demanding an explanation from the SGPC for the 328 saroops (forms) of Guru Granth Sahib having gone missing from their printing press.

“Also, there is resentment among the protesters against the SGPC for its failure to bring the culprits responsible for the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 to account,” he added.

In a press statement issued on Twitter, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has demanded a judicial probe into the incident as he called “the attack part of a conspiracy of agencies bent on destroying SGPC & Sikh institutions”. He claimed it was a bid to weaken the Panthic institutions in Punjab.

(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)