Protests by Sikh groups that started after a guard of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in Mumbai on Friday spread to the capital on Sunday besides Jammu and several towns of Punjab and Haryana.
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh Makkar appealed to the protesters to “maintain calm and not to allow themselves to be provoked’’.
Swords and daggers drawn, members of the community blocked traffic on the Jammu-Pathankote national highway and burnt the Dera chief in effigy in Sirsa, Moga and Sangrur though the protests remained by and large peaceful.
In Delhi, police detained about 30 people who blocked roads in Najafgarh for about an hour and burnt an effigy of the Dera chief.
Radical groups Damdami Taksal and Sant Samaj demanded that Ram Rahim Singh be arrested by Tuesday after which they would call a rail and road blockade. They also asked the Centre to withdraw ‘Z-plus’ security cover to the Dera chief.
Various Sikh groups took out a march from the Golden Temple in Amritsar demanding the arrest of Ram Rahim Singh. Hundreds of Sikh protesters, led by SGPC leaders, took a march on the national highway near Faridabad demanding action against the Dera chief.
Around 200 protesters started marching from NH 2 and went up to Ajronda chowk at NH 5. An attempt by the protesters to block the highway was thwarted. The Sikh leaders later submitted a memorandum to Faridabad additional deputy commissioner Sanjay Joon demanding the arrest of the Dera chief. <<back
