Terming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tarun Chugh remarks on his “Army background” as reprehensible, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday quipped, “what does the BJP or its leadership know of Army honour or the grace of the national flag, in which the bodies of our Punjabi brothers come wrapped from the borders every second day?”

“We in Punjab know the pain of seeing the bodies of our sons and brothers, wrapped in the national flag, come home every second day,” he said, adding the BJP clearly has no empathy or sensitivity towards the soldiers losing their lives to protect India’s honour and integrity. Neither Chugh nor his party could relate to the anguish of those very soldiers on seeing their farmer fathers and brothers being beaten up and tear gassed while fighting for their rights, said the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister slammed Chugh for deliberately spreading lies on an issue relating to the honour of the brave Indian soldiers fighting for the safety and security of the nation at the borders. Lambasting the BJP national general secretary over his remarks on the ‘Republic Day grace’, he said the BJP, which had systematically ripped the Constitutional fabric apart over the past 6 years and most notably over the draconian Farm Laws, had lost all moral and ethical right to talk of the honour of the R-day.

“What was wrong in my statement that “maligning the farmers (for the Red Fort violence) could cause the morale of the armed forces, 20% of which is from Punjab, to go down? How does that amount to insulting the Republic Day grace and my own Army background?” asked Capt Amarinder, hitting out at Chugh for misleading the people with baseless allegations.

“What happened to the grace of the R-day when the Central Government, which the BJP leads, trampled over the federal and Constitutional rights of the states to unilaterally bring in the Farm Ordinances without consulting anyone? Where is the grace in letting the poor farmers, who are feeding you along with the billion plus people of India every day, shiver out in the cold on the roads, with many of them dying out there?”, Capt Amarinder asked.

Reacting to Chugh’s unfounded accusations that he had backed those who had insulted the tricolour at the Red Fort, Capt Amarinder pointed out that far from supporting anyone involved in the Red Fort violence in any way, “I was among the first to outright condemn the violence and the dishonour to the symbol of independent India.”

Reiterating, however, that he did not believe it was the farmers who created the trouble, the Chief Minister pointed out that it was miscreants, including BJP’s own supporters, who were seen inciting the trouble at the historic Red Fort in the national Capital on the Republic Day. He reiterated his demand for a thorough probe into the incident to expose the conspiracy and unveil the role, if any, of any political party or any third country.

Terming Chugh’s unfounded allegations as a clear attempt to cover up his own party’s role in the incident, and also in the subsequent developments, including yesterday’s attack on peacefully protesting farmers at the Singhu border, the Chief Minister said the BJP, in its desperation to divert public attention from the genuine plight and struggle of the farmers, was resorting to all kinds of theatrics and lies.

The Chief Minister also came down heavily on the BJP leader over his remarks on the law and order situation in the state. For months, the farmers agitated peacefully in Punjab, where some of them are even now sitting in protest, without any trouble, he pointed out, adding that the BJP wanted to see trouble in the state with an eye on next year’s Assembly elections. “Why else would they try to undermine the growing Pakistan and China threats, and the increasing number of incidents of weapons being smuggled into Punjab through drones,” he asked, warning the ruling party against compromising the nation’s safety and security for its own petty political gains.

SAD DEMANDS CENTRE LAUNCH CRIMINAL CASES AGAINST POLICE OFFICIALS AND

BJP GOONS WHO ATTACKED FARMER CAMP AT SINGHU

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday demanded the Central Government launch criminal proceedings against Delhi Police officials as well as BJP goons who indulged in State terrorism by attacking the farmer camp at the Singhu border in Delhi besides beating up Sikh youth mercilessly and insulting their articles of faith.

Addressing a press conference here, party senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia also demanded that since the Delhi Police and BJP goons accompanying them had committed human rights violations, chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh should also register appropriate cases against them and take follow up action. He said the SAD would submit a formal complaint in this regard to the chief minister and that in case the latter still did not take appropriate action in the matter it would be clear that he was hand in glove with the BJP.

Majithia also announced a three member committee of lawyers, including AS Dharni, DS Sobti and Harry Bajwa would assist farmers whose human rights violations had been violated and also released three telephone numbers — 98150 00026, 99145 91011 and 78144 00060 to contact the lawyers for needed assistance free of cost. He also announced that senior leader Jathedar Tota Singh had visited families of twelve youth missing from Dharamkot and that Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu and Parambans Romana had visited families of eight youth missing from Talwandi Sabo. “We will render all needed assistance to these families also besides opening legal services cells at Singhu and Tikri borders”, he added.

Majithia also pointed out that no action had been taken against Deep Sidhu and Lakha Sadana besides a Kisan leader who had jointly played into the hands of the central government on Republic Day. The Akali leader asserted that farmers were following democratic traditions to exercise their constitutional right to hold a peaceful agitation against the three hated Agricultural laws. He said it was unfortunate that the central government could not stomach this agitation and tried to defame it by calling farmers’ naxals, terrorists, China and Pakistan sponsored elements and now finally had started supporting physical attacks on them. He said farmers would not be intimidated by such tactics and that the Kisan Andolan would emerge even stronger in the coming days.