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Mann to stop Advani's Yatra

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, MARCH 23. Radical Sikh leader and Member of Parliament, Simranjit Singh Mann, has announced that his Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) party would stop the Bharat Uday Yatra of the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, on Thursday. He announced a programme to put a blockade near Khumanon town of Fatehgarh Sahib district and also show black flags on the route.

Talking to reporters here today, Mr. Mann said Mr. Advani's yatra, whose first leg was scheduled to culminate at Amritsar on March 26, was a direct challenge to the minorities, especially the Sikhs. He said the attempt was to spread communal and hegemonistic agenda of the BJP and its Sangh parivar. Mr. Advani's programme would be a threat to the peace and could create law and order problems in the State.

Mr. Mann reminded that it were the activists of the BJP, who were then led by their leader, Harbans Lal Khurana, that vandalised the model of the Golden Temple and the portrait of Guru Ram Das, at the Amritsar Railway station in February 1984. He said that the Sikhs had not forgotten that Mr. Advani had supported the `Operation Bluestar'.

Mr. Mann sought an answer from Mr. Advani, as to why he had not thought of visiting the Golden Temple during the tenure of the NDA Government. On the other hand, reacting to the threat, the spokesman and General Secretary of the Punjab unit of the BJP, Harjit Singh Grewal, charged that Mr. Mann was acting at the behest of the Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh. He said that a senior police officer had contacted him at the BJP headquarters to advise Mr. Advani to alter the route.

Mr. Grewal stressed that the Yatra would proceed as scheduled. He said that it was the duty of the State Government to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. He said that it was evident that the ruling Congress party in Punjab had panicked as a complete wash out stared it in the face during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

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