YAD leaders Meetpal Dugri and Gurdeep Gosha in Ludhiana. (Express photo: Gurmeet Singh)SENIOR LEADERS and workers of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its ally BJP gave a hero’s welcome to two Youth Akali Dal (YAD) leaders who were released from Ludhiana Central Jail Wednesday after getting bail in Rajiv Gandhi statue defacement case.
There were dramatic scenes was witnessed outside the jail premises as accused Gurdeep Singh Gosha and Meetpal Singh Dugri were released. A large number of SAD-BJP workers stood and started showering flower petals on them. Later, they were also presented a siropa (orange-coloured cloth) and both entered a pick-up jeep. The procession that followed saw hundreds of vehicles in a cavalcade, started from jail road and ended at Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib where the accused paid obeisance.
As the cavalcade moved, several others presented siropa to the accused and garlanded them. Slogans were raised hailing them and against Congress.
On December 25, both YAD leaders allegedly vandalised a statue of former PM Rajiv Gandhi in Salem Tabri area of Ludhiana and were arrested. In a video that went viral, the duo purportedly said they want Bharat Ratna title given to former PM revoked immediately for his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and they defaced his statue to register strong protest against massacre of Sikhs in 1984. The court granted them bail Tuesday.
Those present to welcome YAD leaders outside jail included SAD senior vice-president Maheshinder Singh Grewal and BJP leaders Gurdev Sharma Debi, Subhash Verma and Amit Gosain.
Gurdeep Gosha said he had no regrets for his actions. “Congress leaders have cleaned black paint from the statue of Rajiv Gandhi but how will they clean his black acts due to which thousands of Sikhs were massacred in 1984? How will they remove black paint of killings associated with Gandhi’s name. It is shocking that even after conviction of Sajjan Kumar, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is not accepting that Congress leadership was indeed involved in this genocide. It is high time that he should accept and apologise to Sikh community,” said Gosha. He claimed that he and Dugri were physically tortured by police.
“We have no regrets for what we did. People like Rajiv Gandhi who justify killings of innocents do not deserve any statue in their honor,” said Dugri.
YAD spokesperson Tanvir Singh Dhaliwal said it was not just SAD-BJP workers but common people who came to accord a ‘grand welcome’ outside jail. “It is everyone’s right to protest and blackening a statue is no crime.”
