Chandigarh, Aug 13 (PTI) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday said party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal was fine and in “hight spirit” after a man in a ‘nihang’ attire attacked him with a knife inside a gurdwara in Maharashtra’s Nanded.
Badal, the former deputy chief minister of Punjab, was attacked by the man around 1.45 pm with a kirpan (ceremonial dagger worn by Sikhs) when he was visiting the Gurdwara Mata Sahib Devan Ji Mugat, according to the Maharashtra Police.
Nanded SP Neelabh Rohan told PTI, “A nihang (member of a martial order of Sikhs) attacked Badal with a kirpan inside the gurdwara.” The assailant has been taken into custody.
Visuals showed Badal walking inside a building with a cloth wrapped around his right hand.
The SAD chief was rushed to a private hospital for treatment. Badal was accompanied by his wife and Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal at the time of the incident.
SAD spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kler said the man, dressed in ‘nihang’ (member of a martial order of Sikhs) attire, attempted to attack Badal but was stopped by the security guards deployed with the SAD chief.
Badal is a Z+ security protectee.
“Badal sustained a minor injury on his arm and is undergoing treatment at a hospital. He is completely fine and in ‘Chardi Kala’ (high spirits),” Kler said.
According to a local official in Nanded, Badal received two to three stitches on his hand.
Kler said that since the incident took place in Maharashtra, the state police will investigate the attack and determine under whose conspiracy Badal was targeted.
Alleging that ‘panthic leaders’ were being targeted continuously, the SAD spokesperson said, “Some ‘panth virodhi’ (anti-panth) forces are hatching such conspiracies.” Strongly condemning the attack, Kler said Badal had faced an attack earlier as well and that the Almighty had saved him then and again on Thursday.
Senior SAD leader Virsa Singh Valtoha strongly condemned the attack on the party chief and demanded a thorough probe.
He said, “There should be a thorough probe. Who are the forces behind such attack…” This was the second attack on Badal.
In December 2024, former terrorist Narain Singh Chaura opened fire at Badal from close range outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar but missed his target. He was overpowered by a plainclothes policeman.
During the melee, the bullet hit the shrine’s entrance wall behind Badal, who escaped unhurt.
Badal was then performing the duty of a ‘sewadar’ outside the Golden Temple as part of his penance for “mistakes” committed by the SAD government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.
The audacious attack was captured on cameras of media persons who had gathered outside the Sikh shrine to cover Badal’s penance.
Chaura had walked towards Badal, who was sitting in a wheelchair due to a fractured leg, and pulled out a gun from his pocket. PTI CHS SUN VSD NB NB NB
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