Nobody will be allowed to disturb peace in Punjab: Badal

Facing criticism for marking the death anniversaries of killers of Indira Gandhi and a former Army Chief in the Nanakshahi calendar, Punjab government today said nobody will be allowed to disturb the peace and communal harmony in the state.
"Maintaining peace in the state is my responsibility... In the past seven years of our rule there is not even a single major incident (of communal disturbance)... The motto of my life is to keep peace and communal harmony intact in the state," Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said.
"Nobody will be allowed to disturb peace and communal harmony in Punjab," he categorically stated in the state Assembly here.

He was replying to fears expressed by Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar during the Zero Hour that "Certain events have taken place which can arouse the communal passion of a particular section of the society".
"Way things are going (referring to Nanakshahi calendar), it will inflame communal passions, this needs to be stopped," Jhakar said.
With Badal making his stand clear, SAD's ally BJP also said that it was averse to such events.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Mohan Mittal (BJP) categorically told the House that BJP disagrees with honouring the "killers".
Later, Jakhar told media in press lounge that "Badal should act on what he says."

In Rajya Sabha yesterday, Congress had attacked the Akali Dal-BJP government in Punjab and the SGPC in Parliament for marking the death anniversaries of the killers of Indira Gandhi and former army chief Gen A S Vaidya in the calendar.
While responding on behalf of the Union government, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said it was a "very serious" issue and neither BJP nor central government approved of it in any way.
"We are against it. Those who are doing it, they are not promoted in any way by either our government or Punjab government," Naqvi had said.

The Nanakshahi calendar had recently been approved by the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC), a religious- politico body of Sikhs also considered to be mini-parliament of the community.