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Ever since the Congress assumed power in the state, 17 Akalis have been murdered and several others injured, the SAD has claimed. Members of the Congress are allegedly involved in all incidents. Two of the SAD workers were beaten to death. Others were shot dead. The spate of violence against political persons took off during the previous SAD-BJP government. Then, many of the incidents were the “handiwork” of Akali workers. Now, the alleged perpetrators are Congress workers with Akalis at the receiving end. The SAD is maintaining a daily register of violent incidents against its members. The first incident took place on March 13, within 48 hours of the Congress winning the Assembly elections. Two Akali workers were shot dead by a group of alleged Congress-affiliated truck union. The next day in Gurdaspur, SAD leader Gurbachan Singh Khalsa (80) was killed allegedly by a person considered close to a Congress leader. In May, Akali workers Gurwinder Singh Lali in Chet Singh Wala (Amritsar) and Bikramjit Singh in Fatehgarh Churian (Gurdaspur) were beaten to death. Daljit Singh Cheema, SAD general secretary, alleged: “The Congress has unleashed terror on our party workers. We don’t hope for justice. The police have not done a fair probe in any of the cases.” The Congress, however, accused the Akalis of cooking up charges. State party president Sunil Jakhar said the Congress disapproved any kind of violence, but the Akalis were wrongly attributing clashes or individual cases as incidents of political vendetta. “The Akalis have given political colour to incidents arising out of personal rivalries. In some cases, the victims turned out to be Congress workers,” he said. A senior police official said, “The police act as per the complaint and statement of the victim, besides the circumstantial evidence. If political rivalry is a motive behind a murder, it is mentioned so. But data on political murders is unavailable.”
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