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Jalandhar: Two days after the political turmoil in Punjab following the edict of the highest religious authority in Sikhism, the Akal Takht, against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Aam Aadmi Party leader lashed out at traditional parties for misusing religion to defame him and said that he was being targeted for governing Punjab effectively.

This is Mann’s first response to the Akal Takht’s June 15 directive, where the five members of the Sikh clergy, the Singh Sahiban, called him a ‘Guru dokhi’ or the Guru’s adversary, and a ‘Khalsa Panth virodhi’ or one who is anti-Khalsa Panth. The Akal Takht cited Mann’s apparent poor handling of Sikh affairs and a controversial video, in which a man purporting to be the CM is seen sprinkling alcohol on holy images.

CM Mann, who has taken a defiant stand against the Akal Takht, said that a conspiracy was being hatched in the garb of religion to defame him for taking ‘pro-Punjab’ decisions.

“They [the opposition] could not digest either the enactment of the historic Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Amendment Act 2026, or the fact that a son of a common man was governing Punjab effectively. The people of Punjab have lost faith in these parties because of their anti-people and anti-Punjab policies. Previous rulers were more concerned about their families than Punjab and Punjabis and that is why they have been shown the door,” the CM said.

The CM while addressing a public meeting at Bihala village in Hoshiarpur district said that while the AAP government was protecting Punjab’s interests and delivering welfare, opposition leaders have been busy spreading misinformation.

The CM brought up the newly implemented sacrilege law during the meeting and said, “Whenever incidents of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib took place, the psyche of crores of people was deeply hurt. There was always hope that the culprits would be........

© The Wire