Sunny Deol may skip Amit Shah’s rally in Gurdaspur

Sunny Deol was among the 40 star campaigners of the party for the 2022 Punjab assembly elections, but in that election campaign too he was conspicuous by his absence. He even missed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally.

When asked if Sunny Deol would attend Shah’s rally on Sunday, BJP state general secretary Rajesh Bagha said, “As far as I know, Sunny Deol is busy with his son’s wedding.”

The rally is for the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat, and BJP had contested the 2019 parliamentary elections in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The BJP-SAD alliance broke in 2020 after the farmers’ agitation – against the now-repealed three central farm laws – started on Delhi’s borders. All eyes will now be on Shah to see if he confirms whether BJP would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections all alone or not.

In the meantime, Punjab Police have detained leaders of Quami Insaaf Morcha who were planning to hold a parallel rally in Gurdaspur on Sunday. Quami Insaaf Morcha leader Gurdeep Singh was detained from his residence in Bathinda on Saturday morning. He stated, “I have been detained to sabotage our rally planned near the location of Amit Shah’s rally in Gurdaspur on Sunday.”

The purpose of the rally was to demand justice and punishment for the culprits involved in incidents of sacrilege and the release of Sikh prisoners, according to Gurdeep Singh. Yadwinder Singh, his son, mentioned that the Quami Insaaf Morcha had planned a parallel rally near a marriage palace (in Gurdaspur) owned by a Morcha leader named Varinder Jit Singh Bajwa, who too has been detained.

Dal Khalsa has condemned these detentions, stating that it was a violation of human rights when a peaceful rally cannot be organised.