Who are behind sacrilege incidents, trying to vitiate harmony in Punjab?

New Delhi: Ahead of the 2022 assembly elections, the back-to-back incidents of sacrilege in the Golden Temple and Nizampur Gurdwara, Katpurthal were followed by the lynching of the accused by ‘Sangat’. Another alleged desecration incident in a Hindu temple took place in Ajnala near. These incidents have become a cause for concern for the common man.

The justification of the horrendous killings of the accused by the religious heads as well as politicians has only emboldened the religious fanatics, who would not shy away from lynching in the future in the absence of fear of the law of the land. The recent incidents have confirmed the presence of lunatic fringe among us.

No doubt, the delay in the delivery of justice in past sacrilege cases or even letting off the culprits for want of evidence leading to the explosion of public furore over blasphemy is believed to be the ground for justification of lynching. However, the human brutality part of it which manifested in lynching was never discussed.

The December 18 incident of sacrilege in the sanctum sanctorum of Golden Temple during the recital of ‘rehras sahib’ by an unidentified person who was later beaten to death by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee’s (SGPC) task force and the Sangat has left many questions unanswered.

So far the investigation has established that the unidentified youth had entered the Golden Temple on December 17, stayed there a full day, and was later seen outside the Temple that night. The next day, he entered the Golden Temple at 8.30 am and at 5.46 pm, he entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Temple and committed the sacrilege act following which he was held by the people and beaten to death.

“This is all we know so far about the accused. There was no identification document recovered from him. Could the SGPC’s task force not save him from the public and take him in their custody to reveal the plan behind sacrilege,” questioned sources.

The  Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had announced the formation of a  Special Investigation Team (SIT)  to probe the December 18 Golden Temple sacrilege incident and had assured that the SIT would present its report in two days. But till December 22, SIT had failed to present its report.

In the December 19 incident, a person at a Gurdwara in Nizampur in Kapurthala district allegedly attempted to remove the Nishan Sahib. The person was caught and beaten to death.

In yet another case, on the night of December 21, some unidentified person desecrated the idols of Hindu deities in Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Ajnala.

The temple priest Swami Satya Prakash told Zee News that it was an incident of desperation and all they wanted from the government is to book the person and nothing else. Police have registered an FIR under various sections including Sec 295 of the IPC.

A major question arises, if these are planned incidents, executed after well-conceived machination, then who are the persons behind who wish to vitiate the atmosphere of Punjab? Will it be an issue for political parties in the forthcoming Punjab assembly elections?

Besides internal conspiracy, the security forces here are also looking into the cross-border angle behind the sacrilege incidents.

It is a known fact that Pakistan has always been trying to destabilise the communal harmony and peace in Punjab by not only extending moral support to anti-India elements but it has also been equipping them with arms and ammunition.

The sudden increase in both the aerial and ground intrusion from Pakistan through the Indo-Pak international border in Punjab could be a part of a larger conspiracy.

“The anti-social elements want to disturb harmony in the state and the political parties will certainly make it an issue to take woo voters. But it is too early to jump to any conclusion and we have to wait for the police to reach some conclusion,” said sources.