Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday hit out at the Akalis for what he called as their “shameless” political stunts, in the wake of their threat of agitation over the power hike in the State and their ultimatum in the murder cases of two former SAD sarpanches.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has threatened to take to the streets over the two issues, which the Chief Minister dubbed as mere theatrics, aimed at covering up their own trail of misdeeds and misgovernance of 10 years, and their continued efforts to promote their political interests. “But you can’t hide your miserable track record with these pathetic dramas,” he told the Akalis.
Lashing out at the Akali leadership over their threat of agitation if the killers of former Akali sarpanches Baba Gurdeeep Singh and Dalbir Singh Dhilwan are not arrested within two weeks, Captain Amarinder said the Punjab Police, under the present regime, was doing a much better job at solving crime cases than it ever had under the erstwhile SAD-BJP rule.
These kind of churlish ultimatums might have worked under the Akali Government, when many innocent people were thrown behind bars after being charged in false cases, but under his regimen, no innocent person would be victimised for crimes they did not commit, said the Chief Minister.
The police are doing a thoroughly professional job and the investigations in both cases are on track, he said, adding that these cases would also be solved, just as all others had been solved under his Government.
The Chief Minister said the SAD-BJP Government had specialized in transferring all difficult cases to the CBI, be it the serial killings of RSS and Hindu leaders or gangster crimes, or the various Namdhari cases, including of the sect matriarch Mata Chand Kaur. So much so that in its November 2016 report, the National Crime Records Bureau had revealed that the pendency of cases under various sections of IPC was 44.7 per cent in Punjab by the end of 2015 — next only to 3 north-eastern States.
Capt Amarinder also reeled out data to counter the hue and cry raised by the Akalis on the issue of the power tariff hike.
“Why don’t you check out your own track record before lashing out at us,” he told the SAD, citing figures to show that the percentage increase during their regime, from 2007 to 2017, was much more than what his Government had implemented.
Mismanagement and inefficiencies were the norm under the Akali rule, asserted the Chief Minister, adding that, in less than three years, his Government had transformed the face of Punjab from a poor example of governance into a progressive State, with the lawlessness of the past a forgotten chapter.
“Sitting on dharnas and taking to the streets will not help you get back into the good backs of the people, who have seen through your antics and crocodile tears, and are no longer willing to trust you,” Capt Amarinder warned the Akalis.