Expressing deep concern over the mounting threat to peace and communal harmony in Punjab, the five-time Chief Minister and Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday asserted that the policies of present Congress Government in the state is threatening peace.

“The tendency of the Congress rulers in the State to encourage, promote and flirt with enemies of peace for political mileage is pushing the state back to its dark days at an alarming pace,” said Badal, while condemning the blast incident.

He said that he had been cautioning the rulers and the people of the State against the rising threat to peace and communal harmony in Punjab. “The temptation among the ruling party leaders to use for petty political gains the elements who are openly committed to the ideology of hatred and violence can play havoc with peace and communal harmony in the state,” he said.

Badal alleged that the powers-that-be in the State have been secretly and sometimes even openly siding with and helping elements whose agenda is to divide the people of Punjab along communal lines. “Their leaders have been holding secret meetings with the Chief Minister to plot conspiracies against the SAD. This has made the situation in the State    extremely dangerous,” he said.

“The growing violence in Punjab today is the direct result of the cynical political opportunism of the Congress party in the State and its hobnobbing with the enemies of peace,” said Badal, while also condemning the shocking incident of killing of Sarwan Singh, the father-in-law of senior IAS officer Varun Roozam, by unidentified persons near Patiala.

DON’T PLAY WITH FIRE: SUKHBIR TELLS CONG GOVT

Asking the Congress-led Punjab Government not to play with fire, the SAD president Sukhbir Badal on Sunday said that peace and communal harmony was in danger in the State with the Government encouraging elements whose sole aim was to disturb its hard won peace.

“The law and order situation has deteriorated immediately after the Congress Government came into power. It started as vendetta killings of Akali leaders soon spread to sensational murders and dacoities and even targeted killings of religious heads like a Christian Pastor and Hindu leaders. Today, we have witnessed an attack in Amritsar,” he said.

Stating that all this was due to complete breakdown in law and order, he said the Congress Government made things worse by encouraging divisive elements.

Stating that such incidents had made a return to Punjab after a decade, Sukhbir said that the Government should not pander to divisive elements and not encourage them in any way.

AAP RAISES QUESTION OVER LAW AND ORDER SITUATION

Condemning the blast incident, the Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday raised question over the law and order situation in Punjab.

“The law and order situation in state has gone from bad to worse, and the police and agencies have failed drastically. The anti-social elements are challenging the integrity and prosperity of the state,” said the party president and MP Bhagwant Mann, MP Prof Sadhu Singh, leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema, AAP core committee chairman Principal Budhram, and other core committee members in a joint statement after the core group meeting.

Criticizing Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for failing to protect the state, Mann said that if he was interested in the state affairs, he must hand over the responsibility of Home Minister to someone who is serious about performing his duty.

Demanding a time-bound judicial inquiry in the case, AAP appealed to the people of the State to maintain peace and prosperity.

BJP ASKS CAPT TO FOCUS ON STATE’S SECURITY INSTEAD OF SETTLING SCORES

Condemning the attack, Punjab BJP on Sunday asked the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to concentrate upon the state’s security instead of settling political scores.

“Capt Amarinder should concentrate upon the security of Punjab instead of settling political scores,” said Kalia, the former Cabinet Minister and the former president of the state unit.