Punjab: SAD leader Simranjit Singh Mann courts controversy with 'terrorist' remark on Bhagat Singh

A Punjab MP has courted controversy with his comment on freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. Simranjit Singh Mann, the newly elected Sangrur MP, who is also the chief of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), referred to the freedom fighter as a "terrorist".

According to a report, Mann said, "Bhagat Singh had killed a young English naval officer, he had killed an Amritdhari Sikh constable Channan Singh. He hurled a bomb at the National Assembly at the time. Now you tell me whether Bhagat Singh was a terrorist or not."

After recently winning the bypoll from Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home turf Sangrur, the MP attributed his victory to Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and said he would raise the issues of "Indian Army's atrocities in Kashmir" in parliament.

He also said he would flag the "killing of tribal people in Bihar and Chhattisgarh calling them Naxalites".

The ruling party in the state Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded Mann to apologise for the comment that hurt sentiments and disrespected the freedom fighter.

"Shameful and pitiful. Sangrur MP, Simranjeet Singh Mann, calling revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh a 'terrorist' is disgraceful and disrespectful. Punjabis are connected to the ideology of Bhagat Singh and we strongly condemn this irresponsible comment," the AAP tweeted.

AAP MP Raghav Chadha said it's "shameful that some call him a terrorist". "Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh is a hero, a patriot, a revolutionary and a true son of the soil. Inquilab Zindabad," Chadha tweeted.

Former deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also condemned the comment by the Akali (Amritsar) MP.

"The young man (Bhagat Singh) who fought and sacrificed for the freedom of the country is today being called a terrorist. Simranjit Mann ji Learn to differentiate between those who give their lives for the country and those who give their lives against the country," Randhawa tweeted.