Capt Amarinder Singh opposes Bluestar Memorial

Former Punjab chief minister and Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said it was totally wrong to set up Operation Bluestar Memorial in the Golden Temple complex as it was not going to help the state in anyway.

He also condemned the attempts to glorify Balwant Singh Rajoana convicted of murdering then Chief Minister  Beant Singh.

 Capt Amarinder Singh said in Amritsar that Punjab could afford controversies like the Bluestar Memorial, as the last three decades had only seen the state’s economic decline. He also said setting up such memorials would not send the right message. “We must look forward,” he remarked.

It may be mentioned that it was the Akali Dal which had passed a resolution to build the memorial in October, 1984 but the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) gave the green signal for it only recently. The work on the memorial started on May 20 last. It is the Damdami Taksal that has been entrusted with its Kar Sewa.

The PCC President questioned the attempts of glorifying Rajoana, saying, “He (Rajoana) is a murderer who had murdered our Chief Minister.”

At the same time he clarified that he had only opposed the death penalty to Rajoana since he was against the capital punishment to anyone. He said he had suggested converting Rajoana’s death sentence to life imprisonment which meant that for the whole life he should remain behind  bars.