On May 16, a case of sacrilege was reported in Bathinda as a burnt copy of Hanuman Chalisa was found in Bathinda near Qila Sahib. As per reports, some miscreants burnt the religious book and threw the remains in the garbage. The Police were informed about the incident, after which they confiscated the burnt pages and initiated a probe.
Hanuman Chalisa was burnt in Bathinda yesterday. The way Hurting the Hindu sentiments is getting normalized in this state every day is awful. pic.twitter.com/bwk0urbaYa
— Saumya Mishra. (@Saumya_miishra) May 18, 2022
Hindu organizations staged a protest against the incident of sacrilege of Hanuman Chalisa. Leaders of Hindu organizations and BJP leaders received the information late evening about the incident. Speaking to OpIndia, BJP leader Sukhpal Saran said, “In most probability, those who left Hindu and Sikh religions are involved in these incidents. Such incidents of sacrilege have been happening for a long time. They choose days like Dusherra, Diwali, Gurupurab and other festivals for such incidents to provoke Hindus and Sikhs. Cases were registered against such elements.”
Blaming Aam Aadmi Party for inaction, he said, “I would like to point out that since Kejriwal became active in Punjab politics, such incidents have increased. I feel this is political propaganda to defame religious groups and political parties like BJP and Akali Dal.”
Saran added, “Notably, in the previous cases, no concrete solution was provided by the previous governments as per law. People are angry, and AAP is getting benefitted from the anger. He promised to take strict action against incidents of sacrilege, but nothing happened since AAP came to power.”
He said the failure of previous governments brought AAP to power, and the results are still the same. He said,d “When sacrilege incident happened during the time when Akali Dal was in power, they could not take proper action. The people voted for Congress out of anger and hoped that they would take some action, but the result was the same. The frustrated people of Punjab ditched both parties and voted for AAP this time. If you notice, 20 such incidents have taken place since Kejriwal got active in Punjab.”
Saran said AAP is trying to divert attention from the inability of fulfilling mountainous promises the party made before the elections. He said, “AAP had made mountainous promises like Rs 1,000 to every female above age of 18 and free 300 units of electricity. They are trying to take away the attention of the people from the fact that they failed to fulfil the promises.”
Speaking to Hindi Daily, Dainik Bhaskar, J Elanchezian, SSP Bathinda, said that the Police are investigating the matter. “The CCTV footage is being checked, and those who insulted Hanuman Chalisa will be arrested soon.”
Sacrilege of Gutka Sahib
Another incident of sacrilege was reported on May 17. Unknown miscreants tore pages of Gutka Sahib and threw them from the tenth floor of DD Mittal Tower. The Police reached the spot after getting information about the incident and confiscated the pages.
The incident was first reported by a child who lives on the fourth floor of the building. When the elders living in the building noticed that the pages thrown were of Gutka Sahib, they gathered at the spot in large numbers. DSP Chiranjeev said the investigation is underway.
