RAJPURA, Nov 11: The local police have brokered peace between the rival groups, one led by local residents and the other by Balmikis over the issue of alleged projection of Maharishi Balmiki in poor light by a Gurdwara granthi and the manhandling of the said granthi by local Balmikis in protest.An irate group of Balmikis on Wednesday blocked traffic for some time in the Talhiwala Chowk, demanding that a case be registered against four persons - Baljinder Singh Bhatti, Santokh Singh Baba, Jatinder Kaur, and Manjit Kaur - about whom they had complained to the police.The traffic blockade was, however, lifted after a short while on the intervention of senior officers of the district police, Harpreet Singh Sidhu, Senior Superintendent of Police, told Newline.A group of Balmikis had reportedly manhandled the granthi of Dudadhari Gurdwara in Old Rajpura protesting against the projection of Maharshi Balmiki by granthi Ram Singh, who had been reading out Sakhi (religious story) from Bhagat Mala on the morning of November 5. Local residents protested against this on Tuesday evening, demanding that five of the accused arrested in this connection be paraded through the main bazars with their faces blackened, a suggestion which was outrightly rejected by the police.The residents had blocked traffic at Gagan Chowk, which was called off following intervention by police and civil authorities on the evening of November 5.The SSP said that committees of both the parties, each comprising of ten members, had been constituted to work out modalities to hammer out differences, if any and work on a peace plan to defuse the situation.As per the agreement, the narration of sakhi Bhagat Mala from the Gurdwara has been suspended. The matter has been referred to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to give its opinion on the matter.
