PUNJAB, DEC 4 : A man attempted to shoot Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The incident occurred while Badal and other SAD leaders were serving as ‘sewadars’ under the ‘tankhah’ (religious punishment) pronounced by the Akal Takht on December 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Badal, seated in a wheelchair performing ‘seva’, escaped unhurt as the bullet struck a nearby wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The assailant, identified as Narain Singh, was arrested after being overpowered by bystanrders outside the temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reacting to the incident, SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema lashed out at Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and called it a conspiracy to push the state back into turmoil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is a big conspiracy to push Punjab back into the fire… A man, Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was serving as ‘sewadar’ at the entrance of the temple was shot at. I thank God for saving his life… I want to ask (CM) Bhagwant Mann what has he done to the state,” Cheema told reportrs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There should be a high-level judicial enquiry into the incident…We will continue with our ‘seva’…”, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notably, The Akal Takth had on Monday conferred ‘tankhah’ on SAD members Sukhbir, senior leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, former Punjab minister and brother-in-law of Sukhbir Bikram Singh Majithia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The leaders were pronounced ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty of religious misconduct) by the Akal Takht for mistakes committed by the SAD government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sikh clergy directed had Badal and others to serve as a ‘sewadar’, wash dishes, clean shoes and toilets at the Golden Temple, three months after declaring him guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Badal wore blue clothes to signify his position as ‘sewadar’ and a plague around his neck acknowledging his ‘misdeeds’. He held a spear in one hand and was seated on a wheelchair as he had recently fractured his leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sukhdev Singh had been conferred the same punishment. He was also in a wheelchair due to old age. The two were positioned near the entrance of the Golden Temple and served as ‘sewadar’ for one hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-PTI<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PUNJAB, DEC 4 : A man attempted to shoot Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal outside the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Wednesday. The incident occurred while Badal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348],"tags":[13380,5475,26286],"class_list":["post-131103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","tag-amritsar","tag-punjab","tag-shiromani-akali-dal-sad-chief-sukhbir-singh-badal"],"yoast_head":"\n