Nihangs lay siege to Gurdaspur SSP office, ask police to file FIR against expelled Shiv Sena leader Harvinder Soni

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, November 15

Nearly a hundred Nihangs today laid siege to the SSP office seeking an FIR against ex-Punjab Shiv Sena (Thackeray) leader Harvinder Soni “for hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikhs.”

The protest was still going on with a team of senior officers, led by SSP Deepak Hilori, and the Nihangs engaged in hectic discussions.

In the aftermath of the murder of Hindu leader Sudhir Suri in Amritsar, a video of Soni’s speech in which he had said that “there was a possibility of yet another Operation Bluestar taking place” had gone viral.

In August 2015, a youth Kashmir Singh had fired bullets at Soni injuring him seriously at the Fish Park in Gurdaspur. At that time, he was the general secretary of the Punjab Shiv Sena (Thackeray). Two years ago, the All-India Shiv Sena (Thackeray), the parent organisation of its Punjab unit, had removed Soni from the party post. “Today, his membership, too, has been revoked,” said Yog Raj, president of the Punjab Shiv Sena (Thackeray).

Sena leaders say his speech was just aimed at getting his security enhanced. At present, the state government has provided him a posse of 10 cops.

Since morning, SSP Hilori had opened several channels of negotiations with the Nihangs. Officers also impressed upon Soni the need to tender an apology, which he did. This, however, did not pacify the protestors who said they would settle nothing less than the cops booking him under Section 295-A. This Section pertains to outraging the religious sentiments of any class or individual.

Yog Raj said: “Today morning Anil Desia, MP and president of the all-India unit, has cancelled his membership. Neither the all-India unit nor its Punjab affiliate has anything to do with his utterances. What Soni said against the Sikh temple was blatantly wrong. Sikhs are our brothers and like them we also hold the Golden Temple in high esteem.”

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