Dal Khalsa chastises Indian government for allowing or rather tacitly forcing the Indian army chief to criticize students protesting against CAA and NRC in exchange of the plum post of Chief of Defence Services. The party calls the move dangerous for minorities as this would enable the army and the security establishment to oppress people, especially minorities, nationalities and political dissenters with more impunity than what it already has, without fear of the political system of the country.

I N A SWIFT REACTION TO THE APPOINTMENT of General Bipin Rawat as the Chief of Defence Services of India on the penultimate day of his service as army chief, Punjab political party Dal Khalsa launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi-led Bhartiya Janata Party government for using the armed forces to justify their wrong decisions.

In a statement issued here in Amritsar, Dal Khalsa said the appointment of outgoing army chief General Bipin Rawat as first Chief of Defence Staff was much anticipated, taking into account the manner in which the General slammed students hitting the streets in the biting cold of Delhi to protest the CAA and NRC. The quid pro quo is too apparent to be missed by anyone.

Dal Khalsa president Harpal Singh Cheema said the Modi dispensation has allowed the army chief to enter into civil and political domain only to justify the government’s autocratic decisions. In November 2018 too, the General generated controversy when he raised the bogey of the revival of Sikh militancy despite militarily being assigned no duty or role in containing the militancy in Punjab.

“We are convinced that General Rawat was pushed to criticise the protesting and dissenting people, who feel the CAA and NRC would divide the country on a communal basis and pave the way for BJP’s march towards Hindu Rashtra,” said Cheema, speaking on the phone line to WSN.

Terming the government’s political affinity with armed forces as dangerous for minorities and oppressed nations, he said earlier it was done under some guise or the other, but now the BJP has come out brazenly and blatantly.

Rolling out a balance sheet for the outgoing year 2019, the Dal Khalsa statement read that the Modi dispensation took three drastic and divisive steps in 2019 -stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special status, craftily engineering the court verdict in Ram Mandir’s favour and amending the Citizenship Act.

“All decisions were aimed to terrorize and marginalize the Muslim population and make headway to build India a Hindu country. Even RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s repeated sermons that “all 130 billion Indians are Hindus’ leaves no doubt about the real driving force behind the BJP government’s decisions,” said party chief Cheema.

He added that the Modi-Shah duo has ditched the Sikhs too by backtracking on the release of Sikh prisoners.

Dal Khalsa released a poster reaffirming the resolve of Dal Khalsa and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) for 2020 to fight for freedom to dissent and hold the independent belief and oppose and resist CAA, NRC and Hindu Rashtra move tooth and nail.

Cheema reminded that in 2018, General Rawat had not only condoned but applauded the act of Major Leetul Gogoi who had tied a Kashmiri resident to the bonnet of a vehicle and subjecting him to a humiliating ride through various villages in the Kashmir valley.

“Punjab won’t be part of Hindu Rashtra, come what may,” declared the party in a loud dissent against the Indian government’s move.