An unusual pall of gloom has descended upon Punjab’s Tarn Taran’s Cheema Kalan village, where Lakhbir Singh hailed from. Few days after a group of Nihangs lynched the 35-year-old Dalit man allegedly over sacrilege and mutilated his body at the faraway Singhu border, there is no rush of VVIPs to the village.
Barring the visit of Dalit leader Chandra Shekhar Azad on Monday, politicians have largely chosen to stay away.
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Given how emotive the sacrilege issue is, political parties are wary of raising the issue of a killing of a Dalit villager with just some months left for Punjab elections.
Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati has demanded 50-lakh compensation for Lakbhir and her state unit had posted a Punjabi translation of the tweet. After being trolled, the post was deleted indicating how sensitive the issue of sacrilege was in Punjab.
On her part, Mayawati maintained that the BSP has always respected the religious sentiments of the Sikhs, but the Dalit CM of Punjab “should also ensure” an ex-gratia amount of Rs 50 lakh and a government job be given to the kin.
However, there has been no reaction from Punjab government. The Punjab Chief Minister, Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit himself, has neither commented on the lynching of a Dalit man nor visited the village.
Lakhbir, allegedly a drug addict, had separated from his wife and three daughters some years ago and was living with his sister. On the ground in Cheema Kalan, villagers are still baffled by the turn of events
Village sarpanch Sonu Cheema wonders how Lakbir landed up at Singhu. “We were not aware on when he went to Singhu, who took him there and how did he reach there. ‘’ He said that though he was known to be someone who was suffering from drug addiction, he was harmless and of late had been interacting with villagers for borrowing money, which was as paltry as Rs 10.
Though the charges of sacrilege are yet to be proven, the Tarn Taran unit of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee said that it will not allow Lakhbir’s cremation as per Sikh traditions in the village as it would be disrespectful.
Though the villagers, including the sarpanch, refuse to believe the charges levelled against Lakhbir, they say that they know that no VVIP politician will visit the village. Yet, they hope that investigating agencies carry out a thorough probe to ascertain facts related to the case.
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