The Lok Sabha was adjourned on Thursday following acrimonious scenes during a discussion on the killing of six Sikhs in a US gurdwara. Members belonging to the BJP and the Akali Dal walked into the well to press for a statement from the government on what it planned to do next in the matter,while Congress MPs sought to counter them. Tempers ran high after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal accused Akali members of baking the political cake on funeral pyre of the victims,instead of offering prayers in their memory in gurdwaras. Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Akali Dal) demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lead a delegation of Sikh MPs to the US and the government conduct a global campaign to enlighten people that Sikhs were not terrorists. Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj said the government should come out with a statement giving details of its plans. Let it not remain a zero-hour mention because it had been raised during zero hour, she said. Harsimrat said,Ever since the 9/11 attacks. thousands of Sikhs had been murdered,assaulted,abused. She said Sikhs were being threatened just because of their resemblance to a terrorist or to a certain community. Her reference to a community sparked off protests from some Muslim members. Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa said: The person responsible for the racist shootings was.a literate person. He knew that he was going to kill Sikhs in a gurdwara. AICC chief Sonia Gandhi got agitated when Harsimrat attacked the Congress,making a reference to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. However,the Punjab MP resisted all attempts to cut her short.
