Chandigarh, Oct 22 Punjab Congress chief Pargat Singh on Thursday said he has moved a privilege motion against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, accusing him of misleading the House regarding the 2018 Punjab anti-sacrilege bill and backtracking from amending the anti-sacrilege law.
Singh, who is also the Jalandhar Cantt MLA, alleged that despite a consensus among all legislators on amending the law in the presence of the Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the government was now backing away from its commitment.
“Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had misled the House regarding the 2018 Punjab anti-sacrilege bill and the documents sent by the Punjab Legislative Assembly to the President’s office,” Singh alleged in a statement.
On the first day of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha session here on Thursday, the Congress leader submitted the privilege motion against Mann to Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan through the Punjab Assembly secretary.
“It is the government’s responsibility to present the facts clearly before the House. If there are discrepancies between the chief minister’s statements and official documents, the matter must be investigated impartially and the truth brought before the public,” said Singh.
He said the assembly is a vital democratic institution where every member has the right to receive accurate information based on facts and official documents.
Singh alleged that the AAP government was not only avoiding amendments to the law but was also retreating from consultations with Sikh institutions and a discussion on the sensitive issue in the Punjab Legislative Assembly.
Singh said the issue of sacrilege is deeply connected with Punjab’s religious sentiments, faith and the trust of its people.
“The government must explain why it is unwilling to proceed in accordance with the consensus reached earlier and what objection it has to an open discussion on the issue in the assembly,” he said.
He emphasised that matters involving religious sentiments must be handled with transparency, sensitivity and accountability rather than political rhetoric.
“The people of Punjab have the right to know the current status of the proposed amendments to the anti-sacrilege law and the actual position regarding the documents sent to the President’s Office in 2018,” he said.
Establishing the truth is essential to protecting the dignity of the legislative assembly and upholding parliamentary conventions, he said.
Through the privilege motion, he has sought scrutiny of the chief minister’s role and accountability in the matter, so that the rights of the House and the dignity of democratic institutions are preserved, Singh added.
The Jaagat Jot Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was unanimously passed by the Punjab Assembly on April 13.
It includes a provision for stricter punishment, including life imprisonment for any act of sacrilege against the Guru Granth Sahib. It also proposes fines from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.
However, the Akal Takht raised several objections to the law, particularly related to some Sikh terminology, the “custodian” of the religious text and assigning unique numbers to the holy “Birs”.
(PTI News)
