Jalandhar/Chandigarh, February 9
Former Education Minister and MLA Pargat Singh vehemently condemned the brutal lathi charge and deployment of water cannons against teachers and farmers peacefully protesting for their legitimate demands. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who cloaks himself as the son of a humble schoolmaster of Satoj, has brazenly discarded his professed honor, resorting to criminal-like brutality against Punjab’s farmers and educators. These citizens were merely conducting peaceful marches and demonstrations to press for justice, yet the state’s recourse to overwhelming police force exposes the government’s profound frailty and moral bankruptcy.
Singh asserted that Mann has long exploited his claimed lineage as Satoj’s son to garner the empathy of Punjab’s people. Now, ensconced in power, he shamelessly orders lathi charges on teachers—the very backbone of society whom his administration has grievously undermined. The former Education Minister highlighted that the AAP government appointed 12,710 teachers on a permanent basis on July 28, 2023, issuing them appointment letters. “Yet, nearly two years later, these educators remain denied the permanent employee pay scale, alongside essential benefits such as TA, medical reimbursement and group insurance. In a bid to compel action on these rightful claims, the teachers embarked on a serene march from Mohali to Chandigarh. Shockingly, authorities not only forcibly halted them at multiple points but unleashed water cannons in a brazen display of state aggression’, he added.
Stating that during this crackdown, several Sikh teachers suffered the indignity of having their turbans forcibly removed, Singh added, “The lathi charge left five individuals injured, including three female teachers. Union President Dwinder Singh Sandhu sustained a severe blow to his knee.” Singh lambasted the government not only for failing these teachers but for its wholesale abdication in regularizing any contractual employees.
Singh also excoriated the administration over the lathi charge on farmers in Bathinda. He recalled how, during the farmers’ border sit-ins against the black farm laws, the Aam Aadmi Party professed unwavering solidarity. “Yet now, as these same farmers demand their due from the Punjab government, the AAP turns its batons upon them. This duplicity lays bare the party’s two-faced hypocrisy, now starkly exposed before teachers, farmers and all Punjabis”, he concluded.
