PUNJAB: Following an unverified video of Khalistani preacher and ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh urging followers to spread the word for the big congregation on Baisakhi to discuss issues before the Sikh community, security has been beefed up in the state.
Additional Director General of Police, Surinder Pal Singh Parmar overseeing the security said, “We have made elaborate security arrangements. We are here for the convenience of people. We want more and more people to visit the state on Baisakhi. It will send out a positive message that the situation is normal in Punjab. No restrictions have been imposed. “
In a purported audio message shared on social media on March 31, Amritpal asked the jathedar to ‘prove that he was representing the Sikh community’. “I have asked the jathedar to call a Sarbat Khalsa and prove that he is a jathedar. If we have to indulge in politics even today, what will be the basis of being a jathedar in future?” Amritpal said in the audio message. Further he also tried to dictate his terms thag has not gone down well with the religious authorities of the Sikh community.
There are speculations that Amritpal Singh could either enter the Sikh shrine on Friday or on Baisakhi before the police arrest him. According to sources, teams of intelligence officials have been deployed at various strategic locations in plain clothes to arrest Amritpal Singh before he enters any religious place in Bathinda, Amritsar or Anandpur Sahib.
Earlier, on April 2, amid speculations that the fugitive Waris Punjab De chief was likely to surrender at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Baisakhi will be celebrated on April 14th.