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‘Doing politics over religious issues will make India like Afghanistan, Pak’: Punjab minister

By Hindustan Times

Punjab MLA and state agriculture minister ‘Kaka’ Randeep Singh Nabha on Tuesday said Indian politicians should keep from doing politics over "religious matters" lest the environment in the country becomes like the "one in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

“The bravehearts who helped the country achieve independence and gave democracy to the country are constantly being sidelined. The country is being weakened,” he told news agency ANI.

He further stated that religious politics creates a “feeling of mistrust and insecurity” among the people. “If this situation continues, then the day is not far when the situation in India will become like Taliban ruled Afghanistan, and Pakistan,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The Congress leader’s remarks come in the aftermath of the gruesome killing of a 35-year-old man from Punjab’s Tarn Taran district at the farmers’ protest site at Delhi’s Singhu border. Identified as Lakhbir Singh, the Dalit man’s body was found hanging from a police barricade with his left arm chopped off. A post-mortem report on Saturday explained that Lakhbir died owing to excessive bleeding and as many as 22 injury marks were found on his body.

Watch here| Singhu hand chopping & murder: Watch how Rakesh Tikait described the incident

Lakhbir was allegedly murdered for desecrating a Sikh holy book. Three individuals belonging to the Nihang namely Narayan Singh, Bhagwant Singh and Govind Preet Singh, who have claimed responsibility for the killing, were sent to a six-day police custody by a local court in Sonipat on Sunday.

Notably, Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma has blamed the farmer union leaders and the opposition parties for the killing of Lakhbir. In a statement, he said that Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait was fanning anti-national sentiments and was giving “provocative speeches” in a desperate bid to advance his political career.

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