New Delhi: Punjab Agriculture Minister Randeep Singh Nabha, on Tuesday, claimed that the accused in the Singhu border lynching was not a Nihang Sikh and the incident was an attempt to divert attention from Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
"The way Central Government was trying to suppress the matter of Lakhimpur Kheri, this incident has also been done to divert the attention from there. I can say this with full confidence that he was not a Nihang Sikh. The bodies of Nihang Sikhs will soon release a statement that he doesn't belong to their community," Nabha said.
Nabha also reacted to the recent picture of Baba Aman Singh, who heads one of the Nihang sects and a Sikh Group in Ontario, with Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar calling it "unfortunate". While speaking to ETV Bharat, Randeep Singh Nabha said, "It's unfortunate that the country is heading towards criticism and negative politics. All of us are equally responsible citizens of this country."
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"If we encourage a bad element anywhere in the country, the consequences are borne by the citizens of the country. This image which we are supposed to protect worldwide, to try and make our country grow and economically stabler, we should refrain from such kind of incidents" Nabha added.
When asked about the Punjab Government's strategy to curb stubble burning in the state, he said, "NGT has cleared itself that Punjab's stubble burning is 40per cent lesser in comparison to last year. But we are trying to educate people as well that this process is not just harmful to Delhi but for the local residents around that vicinity.
So I think stubble burning will gradually fade away as the incentives by the Government of India and state government will be given to them. Nabha had come to Delhi to meet Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya over the DAP crisis in the state.
