Khalsa panth tercentenary chetna march: BJP keeps off

AMBALA, MARCH 22: While all political, religious and social welfare parties and bodies actively participated in the Khalsa Panth Tercente...

AMBALA, MARCH 22: While all political, religious and social welfare parties and bodies actively participated in the Khalsa Panth Tercentenary Chetna March taken out at Ambala Cantonment yesterday, as part of the tercentenary celebrations, the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP did not take part in it.

The Khalsa Chetna march was organised by the Central Gurdwara Committee, after holding an all-party meeting on March 8, where representatives of various parties had participated and had assured of their cooperation. But non-participation by the Bharatiya Janata Party had disappointed the organisers of the march, whose sole aim was to bring together various parties and organisations together for the celebrations.

The march was led by local MP Aman Kumar Nagra and legislator Anil Vij. Others, who participated in the march were DCC urban president Brij Anand and DCC vice-president Ashok Jain, HVP district president Naib Kaur, SGPC member Surjit Singh Niddar, Deputy Commissioner Anvraj Sandhu and Municipal Council president Sudarshna Dua. The speakers at the function held at Race Course Maidan, where the march ended, exhorted people to follow the path shown by Guru Gobind Singh.

The absence of the Bharatiya Janata Party unit from the Khalsa March led to circulation of numerous rumours. Central Gurdwara Committee general secretary B. S. Bindra when contacted stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership was formally invited as was done in the case of other political parties and organisations. He said that he had invited the local Bharatiya Janata Party unit president, K. D. Sharma, on phone but neither he nor any other leader of the party attended the meeting held on March 8 that was called in connection with the preparations of the march. Bindra is also a members of the Khalsa Panth Tercentenary Committee constituted by the state government. He stated that the main objective of the march was to bring together all political and religious bodies on a common platform but regretted that the Bharatiya Janata Party boycotted the march.

A leading local Bharatiya Janata Party leader Harish Budhiraja said that the Bharatiya Janata Party workers had neither received any invitation nor had they got directions to participate in the march from the local party leadership.