Jalandhar: Senior RSS leader Brig (retd) Jagdish Gagneja was on Saturday night shot at by some bike-borne persons at Jyoti Chowk area here, police said.
Jalandhar Commissioner of Police Arpit Shukla said Gagneja, Sah-sarsanghchalak of RSS’s Punjab unit, was shot at around 9 PM near Makhdumpura colony here.
He was rushed to a private hospital where his condition is stated to be critical.
Local BJP MLA Manoranjan Kalia said that three bullets hit Gagneja.
Police have started a probe in the matter.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh condemned the attack on the RSS leader.
“Such nefarious designs deserve to be nipped in the bud lest these push Punjab into anarchy,” he said in a statement.
People may not agree or approve of RSS ideology, but in a democracy everyone has a right to pursue his political and ideological beliefs, Amarinder said.
“Such intimidation is unacceptable,” he said.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal condemned the attack on Brig Gagneja and ordered the district authorities to ensure that the culprits are apprehended at the earliest.
He directed authorities in Ludhiana to rush a team of top surgeons to attend to Brig Gagneja, an official statement said here.
He said Punjab is the land of saints and seers and has been a torch-bearer for values of peace and communal harmony.
“Peace and communal harmony in the state is the first and foremost priority for me and my government and no one will be allowed to disturb it. The government will continue to follow a policy of zero-tolerance against any attempt to disturb the hard-earned peace and communal harmony,” he said.
Badal appealed people to maintain peace and harmony.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal also condemned the incident and said strictest and prompt action will be taken against the culprits.
—PTI