Govt committed to protect people and their religious scriptures: BJP
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 Aug, 2021 10:55 AM
New Delhi, Aug 24 (IANS) Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing back the ‘Swaroop of Shri Guru Granth Sahib' from Afghanistan, the BJP said on Tuesday that the initiative has sent a strong message to the Sikhs across the globe that the government of India is committed to protect people as well as their religious scriptures.
Amid the ongoing chaos and unrest in Afghanistan, the Indian government is continuously engaged in evacuating Indian as well as Afghan nationals from the war-torn nation.
Accordingly, a special Air India flight from Kabul landed at the IGi airport here on Tuesday carrying 44 Afghan Sikhs, who brought three copies of Guru Granth Sahib with them.
BJP spokesperson R.P. Singh, who received the holy scriptures at the IGI airport along with Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and V. Muraleedharan, told IANS that Sikhs are thankful to Prime Minister Modi for bringing back the Guru Granth Sahib from Afghanistan.
"Guru Granth Sahib is the holiest book for Sikhs and Prime Minister Modi ensured that it was safely brought back from Kabul. The initiative shows that while evacuating people, the Modi government is also taking care of their religious scriptures," Singh said.
Singh also pointed out that nothing is safe in Afghanistan, which includes people, religious places and books and lauded the efforts of Sikhs who safely brought back the holy scriptures with them.
"The initiative also boosts the morale of Sikhs and other people of Indian origin who are still in Afghanistan that the government of India will safely evacuate them in the coming days," Singh said.
Singh also criticised BJP's former ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for demanding extension of the cut-off date for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for granting citizenship to religious minorities persecuted in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh from 2014 to 2021.
SAD leader and president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, has urged the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to amend CAA and extend the cut-off date from 2014 to 2021 so that people coming from Afghanistan get benefitted.
"Akalis opposed the CAA and walked away from the alliance with the BJP just before the Assembly polls in Delhi in February 2020. Now they are demanding extension of the cut-off date. They must explain why they opposed the CAA in the first place," Singh said.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Wednesday claimed that the Independence Day announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) has been increased by 1.5 times is incorrect and the announced MSP is not being realised by all farmers despite his commitment in the Parliament.
The incumbent pontiff, Arunagirinatha Gnanasambantha Desika Paramacharya Swamigal, passed away at a private hospital in Madurai on August 13 due to respiratory illness. He had been the pontiff of Madurai Aadheenam for four decades.
BJP Delhi Yuva Morcha president Vasu Rukhar told IANS that the Pakistan government must apologise and install a grand statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh where it was demolished in Lahore.
The doses were seized by authorities in India and Africa between July and August, a WHO statement said. It also said the vaccine's maker, the Serum Institute of India, confirmed that the doses were fake.
Prominent hospitals in Gurugram have claimed that a huge dip in admission of foreign nationals have been witnessed due to the ongoing Covid pandemic, while the latest political tussle in Afghanistan will also have a huge impact on medical tourism in Gurugram.
India's priority in Afghanistan is safely getting back home its citizens in the country that has been over-run by the Taliban and it is discussing the matter with UN and US officials, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said here on Wednesday.
