New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) If a non-BJP Chief Minister such as Amarinder Singh and former cricketer such as Harbhajan Singh raising the matter wasn’t embarrassing enough for the Trinamool government in West Bengal, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has stepped in over the ‘turban row’.
The minority body has shot off a letter to Bengal’s Chief Secretary demanding a report on the alleged incident of turban pulling of a Sikh security official by the West Bengal police, within the next 15 days.
The NCM sprung into action after BJP’s Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga complained to the body.
“The undersigned is directed to request you to send a report in this matter within 15 days, so that the matter could be placed before the commission for its consideration,” read the letter.
A copy of the said letter is also marked to the Director General of Police of the West Bengal Police for “similar action”.
The matter pertains to a video clip showing Balwinder Singh, a security official attached to a BJP leader, being shoved.
His turban was allegedly pulled off by the police in Kolkata during a protest march on October 8 to the state Secretariat Nabanna by the BJP’s youth wing.
The video went viral on social media. However, the Bengal government has denied the charges.
The Mamata Banerjee government alleged that the incident was being given a “communal colour”.
The BJP, in turn, has accused the Bengal police of hurting religious sentiments.
Earlier today, DSGMC President Manjinder Singh Sirsa told IANS that he along with two other DSGMC members will visit the Howrah police station and lodge a formal complaint against the policemen.
The three-member DSGMC delegation, which visited Kolkata on Sunday in the wake of ‘manhandling’ and arrest of Sikh security guard Balwinder Singh, also plans to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Earlier, the Punjab CM also asked Mamata Banerjee to act “against concerned cop for hurting the Sikh religious sentiments”.
The matter went beyond the realm of politics when former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh on Friday took to Twitter to express his dissatisfaction over the incident.
The Bengal home department, in a series of tweets on Sunday, had said, “Our Sikh brothers and sisters live in West Bengal in perfect peace and harmony…with respect from all of us for their faith and practices. A recent incident when one isolated individual got caught with one illegally carried firearm amidst ‘agitationists’ (sic) in an agitation that was not authorised is now being twisted out of context, being distorted, and being given communal colours in fractious and partisan interest.”
–IANS
abn/ash