Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s desperate attempts to hide his Government’s utter failure to protect the farmers’ interests will not save him from their wrath, nor will they safeguard his party from being decimated in the next Punjab Assembly elections.
At the same time, Capt Amarinder minced no words to dub the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader a “coward who had run scared and apologized when cornered in a defamation case by SAD’s Bikram Majithia”.
“Just as every Punjabi knows that I am not one to be cowed down by any amount of false ED or other cases, they also know that you will sell your soul if it serves your purpose,” the Chief Minister said, in a resounding response to Kejriwal’s allegations and accusations against him.
Daring his Delhi counterpart to cite even a single instance when he backed off under pressure of ED or any other agency, Punjab Chief Minister pointed out that from Operation Bluestar to SYL and now to the farm laws issue, “I have always done the right thing in sharp contrast to Kejriwal, whom the whole of Punjab has seen cringing in fear in the face of a minor defamation case and the whole of Delhi has seen begging the Centre for help amid the pandemic”.
Asserting that the whole world had seen how Kejriwal had sold off farmers’ interests by notifying one of the black farm laws in the national capital at a time when the farmers were preparing to march to Delhi, Capt Amarinder said that Delhi Chief Minister had exposed his own ‘setting’ with the Central Government with this act.
“Why did you do that, Kejriwal? What pressure did the Centre have on you? Or is it so you can go groveling back to them again the next time your pathetic government is floundering to handle the COVID crisis, as you have already done twice?” Capt Amarinder asked Kejriwal.
Taking a dig at Kejriwal’s self-proclaimed anger over the conspiracy of certain vested interests to undermine the farmers’ agitation by linking with anti-nationalism, Capt Amarinder said that the farmers needed no endorsement of their genuineness from the man who had hobnobbed with Khalistanis in the run-up to the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls.
“If you think farmers are going to be taken in by your dramatics and crocodile tears, then you are totally mistaken, just as you were mistaken when you thought AAP would sweep Punjab elections in 2017,” said Capt Amarinder.
Likening the Delhi Chief Minister to a dust storm that moves in the direction in which it sees the winds moving, the Chief Minister said that Kejriwal’s attempts to sweep the farmers’ agitation, where he is currently seeing an opportunity to promote his political agenda, will not succeed.
“You should back off before you and your party are swept off the political landscape of India altogether,” said Capt Amarinder, warning Kejriwal against playing with fire. Nobody has ever survived the anger of cheated masses, and Kejriwal, who has already cheated the farmers more than once, will not be able to endure it either, said the Chief Minister.