Dubbing Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh as “prophet of doom”, the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday said that the former Chief Minister has once again predicted that the ensuing Assembly polls in 2017 would be “violent”.
Taking a serious note of apprehensions of violence aired by Capt Amarinder, SAD spokesperson and political advisor of Punjab Chief Minister, Maheshinder Singh Grewal, said that Capt Amarinder had voiced similar concerns five years ago but people of Punjab had given him a rebuff by holding most peaceful poll in the entire country.
“Capt Amarinder, in an interview to a daily on Monday, had said that the whenever Akali are downswing, they try to create trouble and let Student Organisation of India (SOI) and Youth Akali Dal (YAD) chaps loose at polling booths. But if Akali think they can browbeat us, they are highly mistaken, stated Capt Amarinder besides apprehending that police can’t be fair.
Grewal wondered whether Capt Amarinder is genuinely scared of a possible violent poll spectre or he is using threat of impending violence to scare away peace loving Punjabis or he his himself conspiring to create violence to vitiate the political environment.
“Akalis have always been in fray in Punjab polls and their youth and student wings have ensured peaceful conduct of polls. Capt Amarinder need not fear from them but should control his own herd from indulging in acts of unwarranted provocation,” said Grewal while advising him to act with restraint and use sober language befitting his status instead of using abusing words and playing “khunda politics” of street goons.
Expressing complete confidence in the efficacy of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in ensuring peaceful elections in the country, Grewal said that the ECI knows its job well and over the years have mastered the art of holding peaceful poll in the entire country – even in the states lie Bihar or West Bengal where rampant poll violence had been in vogue in the past.
Also pooh-poohing Capt Amarinder’s demand of more central forces for conduct of elections, Grewal said that the ECI conducts periodic assessment of requirement of security forces and deploy forces accordingly.