Fatehgarh Sahib: Indirectly hitting out at the BJP for its silence on “forced” religious conversions across the country, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said these were against the tenets of Sikhism. He was speaking at political conference at Fatehgarh Sahib on Dec. 27.
Punjab CM said that his party opposed ‘forced’ conversions. Badal did not make any mention of controversial ‘ghar wapsi’ program of Hindutva outfits aimed at converting/ re-converting members of minorities to Hindu religion.
Describing the conversions as unfortunate, the CM said: “Sikhs have never accepted forced conversions. The entire Sikh history is replete with several episodes where our great Gurus and valiant Sikh warriors never bowed to the pressure exerted by the mighty rulers.”
Punjab Chief Minister also blamed the BJP-led NDA government for its failure to check drug smuggling from across the border.
It is notable that no BJP leader attended the political conference held by Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal).