Rampura Phul, February 28
Senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia, while addressing a rally at Rampura Phul in Bathinda, alleged that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the acting DGP were functioning at the behest of their Delhi leadership led by Arvind Kejriwal and were responsible for what he termed as the systematic targeting of Punjab’s youth. He said neither the Shiromani Akali Dal nor the people of Punjab would tolerate this.
Referring to the Gurdaspur incident, Majithia alleged that an innocent Sikh youth was killed in a fake encounter after being accused in the killing of police personnel. He said resentment over the incident was growing from village Adhia to Punjabis settled abroad. He claimed that the Chief Minister had initially stated during a press conference that the deaths of the two police personnel appeared to have resulted from internal firing, but later a 19 year old Sikh youth was picked up from his home for questioning and subsequently killed, with a narrative similar to a recent encounter case in Mohali being presented by the police. He demanded a high level probe into the alleged fake encounter and said a case under Section 302 should be registered against the Chief Minister, acting DGP and SSP Gurdaspur.
Majithia alleged that law and order had deteriorated in Punjab under the AAP government and people no longer felt secure. Targeting Bhagwant Mann, he questioned the government’s claims regarding the Malwa Canal project, stating that crores of rupees were spent on publicity but the canal was nowhere to be seen on the ground. He termed the government one driven by slogans and false promises. He further alleged that the government was now attempting to fulfil its promise of financial assistance to women only in the final phase of its tenure by offering limited payments, adding that women in Punjab would not be misled by last minute announcements.
Commenting on the state government’s anti drug campaign, Majithia alleged contradictions in the Chief Minister’s claims, questioning why treatment was sought outside Punjab despite repeated assertions that government hospitals and mohalla clinics offered world class medical facilities. He said Punjab did not need an acting Chief Minister, an acting DGP or parties making false promises, adding that only a regional party could ensure balanced development of the state. He alleged the AAP government had failed on all fronts and claimed people were eager to remove what he described as a government functioning under directions from Delhi.
Meanwhile, SAD president Sukhbir Badal has announced that cleaning up the Sutlej and Beas rivers would be a top priority of the next SAD government and that he would not allow one drop of polluted effluents from either factories or sewer lines to flow into the State’s rivers. Addressing a mammoth rally as part of the Punjab Bachao movement spearheaded by him at Bhai Rupa, Badal said, “Polluted water is the reason for the spread of cancer in the Malwa region. I am committed to ending this scourge once and for all”.
Addressing a sea of blue, the SAD president said the SAD was also committed to ending gunda raj and the drug mafia. Stating that as if extortions and targeted killings were not enough, now even youth were being killed in false encounters by the State police. “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has turned Punjab into a Police State. The police are being used rampantly to target farmers, employees, political opponents and even the media. I assure Punjabis, once elected to power the SAD will usher in peace and communal harmony and bring back people’s rule. We will also deal with gangsters and the drug mafia sternly. They will be declared as terrorists and special legislation will be brought in to deny them bail and their entire properties will be seized to end this menace once and for all”.
Asserting that no political party had any real concern for Punjab and its people, Badal said neither the Congress, AAP or the BJP and its top leaders have your interests at heart. Their only concern is to usurp power”. He said the SAD on the other hand was fully committed to the State and its people. “When the AAP government as well as the central government failed you during the devastating floods last year, the SAD came forward to provide flood relief immediately”.
Badal also gave the example of how Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had come to the State not out of any concern for Punjabis or to set any positive agenda for his party. “He is here only to quell the dissidence in the Punjab Congress. He understands the party is on the verge of disintegration with all its leaders at each other’s throats. He is on a desperate mission to save the party but will never succeed as Punjabis have seen repeated Congress governments, all of which don’t have one thing to show by way of development, infrastructure projects or social welfare benefits”.
