Amritpal Singh, a radical Sikh preacher currently lodged in a jail in Assam under the National Security Act, is set to contest the Lok Sabha elections as an Independent candidate from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib constituency, as per his legal counsel. However, his father, Tarsem Singh, reserved comment until after meeting his son, stating that Amritpal had not previously expressed any interest in politics.
Amritpal Singh’s counsel, Rajdev Singh Khalsa, claimed to have met him in Dibrugarh jail and encouraged him to enter the electoral fray. “I met bhai sahab (Amritpal Singh) in Dibrugarh central jail today and during the meeting, I requested bhai sahab that in the interests of ‘Khalsa Panth’, he should fight elections this time from Khadoor Sahib to become a member of parliament. Bhai sahab accepted my request in the Panthic interests. He will fight as an Independent candidate,” claimed Khalsa.
Amritpal Singh was arrested last year
Amritpal Singh, chief of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit, was arrested in April last year and the stringent NSA was invoked against him. He along with nine of his associates is currently lodged in Dibrugarh jail.
Amritpal Singh, who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Moga’s Rode village on April 23 last year following a more than one-month-long manhunt. The Khalistan sympathiser had escaped the police net in Jalandhar district in March last year, switching vehicles and changing appearances.
Amritpal Singh’s involvement in Ajnala incident
The Punjab Police had launched the crackdown after the February 23 Ajnala incident last year in which Amritpal Singh and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, broke through barricades and barged into the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with police for the release of Lovepreet Singh Toofan, one of his aides.
He and his associates had been booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempts to murder, attacks on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.
(With inputs from PTI)