Prayers for Beant Singh’s Assassin Held in Golden Temple

Prayers and rituals were held for Dilawar Singh, the assassin of ex-Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

File photo of people protesting to seek clemency for Balwant Singh Rajoana, assassin of former state chief Beant Singh. (Photo: Reuters) 

Prayers and post-death rituals for Dilawar Singh, the assassin of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, were organised on Monday to mark the 20th anniversary of the assassination. The memorial service took place at Akal Takht. Representatives of some pro-Khalistan groups participated in the prayers held in the Golden Temple premises.

It was on this day in 1995 that Dilawar Singh blew himself up to kill Beant Singh within the premises of Punjab Secretariat in Chandigarh.

Beant Singh was elected Chief Minister in 1992. He took a no-tolerance approach to the Sikh militancy, and was killed in the blast in 1995 for which the Khalistan terrorists took responsibility.

On the occasion of his death anniversary, there were demands by Sikh hardline groups like Dal Khalsa, SAD (Amritsar) and Panch Pardhani for the installation of a portrait of Dilawar Singh in the Sikh Central Museum.

Punjab Congress President Partap Singh Bajwa paid his tributes to former Chief Minister, the late Beant Singh, on the 20th anniversary of his martyrdom at his memorial on Monday.