Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday accused the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of “trying to polarize people” along communal lines for “political gains” saying that his party will not let this happen as the state cannot afford “another dark era”.
The former Chief Minister alleged that the Chief Minister was responsible for the “spate in violent incidents” in the State, including the attack on RSS’ Punjab vice-president Brig Jagdish Gagneja last week.
Brig Gagneja was shot at by some bike-borne persons in Jalandhar, leaving him seriously injured.
Expressing serious concern over the rising incidents of gang-wars in Punjab, he said that these gangs were being patronized by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal as he wanted to use these gangs in the elections.
“The Deputy Chief Minister cannot pass off everything on the ISI,” said Amarinder, while speaking to the media persons on the sidelines of his ‘Halqe vich Captain’ programme.
“We all know what the ISI is up to. But what are you doing to stop it from executing its nefarious designsIJ Mere chest beating and blaming them will not solve any problem. You need to act,” he said.
“There was a consistent pattern in desecration incidents in Bargari, ludhiana and Malerkotla. And then came the attack on the RSS leader," Amarinder claimed, alleging that the Chief Minister was “deliberately orchestrating all this to polarize people for vested political interests”.
Saying that this was a dangerous game, Capt Amarinder said that the Congress will not let it happen as Punjab cannot afford another dark era. If such things continue to happen, Punjab will further slide down, he added.
Also investors are reluctant to come here, he claimed.
On Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader HS Phoolka’s threat of filing defamation suit against him, Capt Amarinder said that he was welcome to do that.
He reiterated that Phoolka had charged money for the cases of the riot victims, and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee’s former president Paramjit Singh Sarna also used to pay him.
Reiterating that Phoolka charged for pleading the riot victims cases, he said that let him (Phoolka) explain as from where did he get the money to have palatial house and office in posh localities of Delhi as he has not been doing anything else (other than pleading the riot victims cases).
Earlier responding to questions during the ‘Halqe vich Captain’ programme, the PCC president disagreed with the suggestion of banning liquor in Punjab. “The liquor ban in Punjab is neither economically viable nor administratively feasible”, he said, while adding, Punjab at this stage cannot afford loss of revenue on account of the ban.
Besides, he said that liquor ban has always resulted in massive smuggling that defeats the very purpose of the ban.
He said that the Congress government will break the monopoly of Badals on business of sand mining, transport and cable operations.