Akali Dal sees 'conspiracy' against Sikh community

Chandigarh: In its first meeting after the February 4 voting for assembly elections in the state, Punjab`s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal said certain "elements" were indulging in "a deep-rooted and dangerous conspiracy" to weaken the Sikh community in the state.

Akali Dal general secretary Harcharan Singh Bains, in a statement issued after the party`s core committee meeting, said: "The party feels that there is a deep-rooted and dangerous conspiracy by forces inimical to the Khalsa Panth to create confusion and sow seeds of disunity in Panthic ranks."

"These elements, operating with the help of the latest weapons of technology, are using massive misinformation and disinformation as tools in their modes of warfare to weaken the Sikh community as also too strike a thee foundations of Punjabi unity," said the statement. 

"These elements are behind many of the acts that have caused deep hurt in the minds of the Sikh masses. Their sustained and highly motivated campaign is aimed at depriving the Sikh masses of a credible single socio-political and religious platform," the statement added.

"This is the reason behind the vicious anti-Akali propaganda carried out by the anti-Sikh forces acting under the garb of Sikhs before and during the just concluded elections to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha," Bains told media here later.

The veiled reference of the Akali Dal statement was towards the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which posed a major electoral challenge to the ruling Akali Dal-BJP alliance, which has been in power in Punjab since 2007.

The meeting was held at the residence of Akali Dal president and Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Bains said the meeting also decided to seek detailed field reports from the Akali Dal candidates regarding the assembly elections on the work done by the rank and file of the party.

The crucial elections to 117 assembly seats were held in Punjab on February 4. The main fight was among the Akali Dal-BJP combine, the Congress and the latest challenger on Punjab`s political scene, the AAP.

The party leadership also discussed the Akali Dal strategy and preparations for the forthcoming elections of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC).