On March 19, thousands gathered for Sidhu Moosewala’s death anniversary despite Section 144 imposed in the state due to an ongoing manhunt for pro-Khalistani separatist leader Amritpal Singh. Slogans of ‘Khalistan Zindabad‘, ‘Punjab Sarkar Murdabad’, ‘BJP Murdabad’ and others were raised during the event.
Addressing the attendees, Sidhu Moosewala’s father Balkaur Singh lashed out at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab Government over the interviews given by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi allegedly from inside the prison to ABP News. He said, “When I saw that sinner’s interview, it felt as if my son died again.”
“Who will take responsibility for allowing him to give an interview? He came on camera and said, ‘We killed Sidhu, we will kill Salman Khan’. Who is he?” said Balkaur. The crowd raised slogans of “Punjab Sarkar Murdabad”.
Accusing the state government of orchestrating the operation against Amritpal Singh to stop people from coming for the death anniversary of the slain controversial singer and leader, Moosewala’s father said, “Why the operation against Amritpal happened today? It is to suppress our voices. Don’t force us to come and sit outside the Assembly. We only want justice for our son.”
Praising Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government for handling the law and order situation in the state, he said, “The Lok Sabha elections are coming. You will be compelled to give votes in the name of Yogi. You will say UP is clean. What has happened to us?” Pointing out the distressed law and order situation in Punjab, he claimed several politicians and activists were against Moosewala.
“They took away my son’s security and then boasted about it. He was killed,” said Balkaur. Notably, a day before Sidhu Moosewala was assassinated, Punjab Government took away the security assigned to several leaders and high-profile personalities, including Sidhu Moosewala. His name was used in the statement released by the Punjab Government.
Interestingly, though he praised the BJP-led government in UP, Balkaur Sidhu raised slogans against the BJP government at the centre. He said, “I am taking the centre’s name too. They are all together in it. No one can clap with one hand. My son used to give interviews fearlessly. He had called BJP’ modern Mughal’. My son was questioned when he joined Congress. They said, ‘Congress led the riots [against Sikhs], then why he joined them?’ He replied ‘” Riots happened in Gujarat as well. Babri Masjid was demolished. Why do you keep silent over that? I am not saying this was the right thing to say. But when he spoke the truth, agencies used to pick up what he said. They had his record. He would have created problems [for them] if he had reached on top. He was silenced. It was a well-planned assassination.”
Praising his son, Balkaur said, “He was not a bad person. He was a religious man. He never used drugs or got into alcoholism. Despite earning in crores, he lived a simple life.”
‘Our country is not free’, claimed Sidhu Moosewala’s mother
Addressing the attendees, Sidhu Moosewala’s mother, Charan Kaur, questioned if India was free or slave. She said, “I want to ask you only one thing. Is our country free or enslaved?” The crowd replied, “enslaved”, followed by slogans against the Punjab Government. ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ slogans could be heard from the background. “Do not believe that we are free. We are still enslaved,” she said.
While lashing out at the state government for letting Lawrence give an interview to a media channel, she praised Amritpal Singh. Kaur said, “On one hand, gangsters are signing death warrants while in prison. On the other hand, they [government] are trying to frame Amritpal Singh, who brought people closer to Sikhism and taught them to stay away from drugs.”
Questioning the timing of the operation against Amritpal Singh, she said, “Ajnala incident happened over 20 days ago, but they decided to take action yesterday. They are scratching our wounds.”
Sidhu Moosewala’s death anniversary was scheduled a month before the actual date keeping the weather in mind. His father announced it a few days back. An operation against Amritpal Singh was launched a day before the scheduled event. His father released a statement on March 18 accusing the government of suppressing their voices by launching an operation and suspending the internet a day before the death anniversary. Amritpal is still on the run on the third day of the manhunt.
