Chandigarh, India - Violence broke out at more than half a dozen places in Punjab on Monday following clashes between Sikh organisations and members of a popular sect, Dera Sacha Sauda.
More than a dozen people were injured in Bhatinda, while tension prevailed at many other parts of the state where Sikh protestors burnt effigies of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.
The Sikh organisations staged violent protests against a baptising ceremony conducted by the Dera Sacha Sauda in which ‘amrit’ was served to devotees in a manner the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh would perform. Some of the newspaper advertisements also depicted the Dera chief in the robes of the tenth Sikh guru, which infuriated the radical Sikhs in Punjab.
The Dera incidently has its headquarters in Sirsa nearby Haryana and had played a critical role in the last Assembly elections in Punjab. The Dera followers were directed to vote for and support the Congress. This had apparently upset the Akali Dal led by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, which lost more than a dozen seats due to it.
The Dera had been mired in controversy following a CBI inquiry against its chief for his alleged involvement in a journalist’s murder.
After the elections, a group of Congress MLAs had appealed to the Centre to take a lenient view of the charges framed against the Dera chief.
Zapped by the sudden violence, the chief minister has instituted an inquiry into the reasons that led to the disturbances and said the government would preserve peace, communal harmony at all costs.
“No one will be allowed to disturb peace and communal harmony. The government will deal firmly with anyone trying to take law into his own hands,” said Badal.
The chief minister implored the people to refrain from any action that may offend communal and religious sentiments and asked them to help the government in curbing any such malafide intention.