Amritsar, Dec 21 (IANS): Former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday declared that his party "accepts the challenge of a false case against one of the party's leaders Bikram Singh Majithia".
He warned "those abusing their official positions and playing havoc with the rule of law" to be ready to face legal consequences.
Badal also came down heavily against the state government for what he called "their playing brazen politics over the sensitive issue of the sacrilege of sacred Sikh scriptures".
He warned against a deep rooted conspiracy to vitiate the atmosphere of peace and communal harmony in Punjab.
"The peace and communal harmony which we preserved for 15 years suddenly faces a danger. SAD followed the great Gurus' message of 'Sarbat da bhala'. We will continue to strive for preserving peace and communal brotherhood."
"Sachkhand Shri Harmandar Sahib is a sacred shrine where people from all religions come to pay obeisance. It's a shrine of peace and communal brotherhood. But someone is clearly not happy about it and is conspiring both against this sacred ideal and against peace in Punjab," said Sukhbir.
Commenting on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks on lynching, he said it does not lie in Rahul's mouth to talk about lynching. "He belongs to a family that rolled tanks into Harmandar Sahib and lynched thousands of innocent Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. He is still rewarding those guilty who organised those lynchings like Jagdish Tytler and Ajay Maken."
Commenting on what he described as a "brazenly false case" against Akali leader Majithia, Sukhbir said, "We will not be cowed down by these pygmies. They have invited their own doom by resorting to lies and abuse of their official positions. SAD will fight them in the judicial court as well as in the court of the people."
He said the case in which Majithia has been falsely implicated has long been decided by competent courts and the guilty are already serving the terms of the sentence.
The Congress government and its hand-picked instruments have flouted all legal and administrative norms and thrown the rule of law to the winds just to play politics on one of the most sensitive issues facing Punjab today. Those guilty of misuse of authority and distortion of law just to please their political bosses better be prepared to pay for it, he added.