Chandigarh, September 10
In one of his most ferocious attacks yet on the AAP regime, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring ripped into Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s government for forcibly cremating the body of Gulzar Singh — who died by suicide after being allegedly humiliated by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema — branding the act as ‘criminally callous’ and ‘arrogantly insensitive.’
Demanding immediate arrest of Cheema, the PPCC president said the government’s conduct has plumbed new depths of cruelty, exposing its utter disregard for human dignity and democratic values.
In a strongly worded statement issued here today, Warring accused the state government of showing utter contempt for the dignity of Gulzar Singh and his grieving family by getting his last rites performed against their wishes.
“This is not merely insensitive—it is criminally callous and arrogantly inhuman. The government has added insult to injury at a moment when the family deserved nothing but dignity, compassion and respect,” Warring said. Lashing out at both Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Warring said the government had crossed every limit of insensitivity and high-handedness. “What kind of government forces its will upon a grieving family even in their moment of final farewell? This is a shocking display of arrogance, insensitivity and complete disregard for human dignity,” he said.
The Punjab Congress chief squarely held Cheema responsible for the circumstances that allegedly drove Gulzar Singh to take his own life, accusing the Finance Minister of having failed the victim at the most critical juncture. Warring also held Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann directly responsible for the forcible cremation of Gulzar Singh’s body, alleging that the government had compounded the family’s agony by overriding their wishes and denying them the dignity they deserved in their darkest hour.
“Cheema cannot wash his hands of the circumstances that led to this tragedy, just as Bhagwant Mann cannot escape responsibility for the manner in which the family was treated after Gulzar Singh’s death. First they were denied justice and then they were denied even the dignity of mourning. This is not governance—it is the unchecked arrogance of a government drunk on power,” Warring said.
Warring added that this incident amounted to “adding insult to a Dalit’s injury”, accusing the Aam Aadmi Party government of displaying a shocking level of arrogance, insensitivity and contempt for human dignity. Warring warned that the manner in which Gulzar Singh’s family had been treated would not be forgotten and would carry serious political and social consequences for the Mann government.
“Punjabis in general and the Dalit brotherhood will never forget and never forgive this,” Warring said, asserting that the government’s conduct had crossed every conceivable limit of insensitivity. He said the treatment meted out to Gulzar Singh’s family exposed a blatant failure of sensitivity, accountability and basic human decency on the part of the state administration. “At a time when a grieving family needed compassion and dignity, the government chose arrogance and coercion. This is not just administrative insensitivity; it is a grave assault on the dignity of a bereaved family. The people of Punjab will hold this government accountable for this shameful conduct,” he asserted.