In action seen as retaliatory, authorities in Congress-ruled Punjab on Wednesday demolished a building belonging to the brother of the youth Akali leader who defaced former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s statue in Ludhiana on Tuesday.
Questions are being raised over the timing of the demolition that was initiated less than 24 hours after Gandhi’s bust was sprayed with a black paint by SAD leaders. The local civic body descended with bulldozers and razed down the building within no time.
The building belonged to the brother of Gurdeep Singh Gosha, the SAD leader who had blackened Rajiv Gandhi’s statue with impunity. The SAD led by Bikram Majithia, a former minister and brother of Prime Minister Modi’s cabinet colleague Harsimran Badal, staged a protest in the industrial township.
Corporation officials say the building violated laid down rules. The owners, however, refuted the charge saying the design was approved by the municipal corporation.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had taken notice of the vandalism by SAD leaders and had directed the police to take appropriate action against those guilty of the offence. Capt also warned Akali leaders to desist from such misadventure.
Remorseless
The police were prompt to register a case against the two SAD leaders - Meetpal Dugri and Gurdeep Singh Gosha. The two remained remorseless and said they blackened Gandhi’s statue as a mark of protest against the ‘leader who was responsible for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.’
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal has said that the act by the youth leaders of his party was an outcome of growing resentment. On Tuesday after Gandhi’s bust was defaced, a Congress leader cleaned the statue with milk by using his turban. Capt had warned Sukhbir that such acts of vandalism would backfire on his party in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
