Congress Deputy leader in lok Sabha and Amritsar MP Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday announced to hold a ‘solidarity programme’ to support the Border Security Force (BSF) that was recently attacked by the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab for ts failure to check penetration of drugs from across the border.
“It is unfortunate that SAD had attempted to malign BSF’s image… Akali’s protests against the force could not have come at a worse time than this as the BSF is currently fighting the Pakistani Rangers and the Paskitani army in Jammu and Kashmir and had lost so many lives in the battle,” he said. “Akalis should feel ashamed for such treacherous act that amounts to betrayal of the forces,” he added.
lashing out at BJP for not condemning the Akalis for their alleged treacherous act in an unambiguous terms, he said that the saffron party, “by being ambiguous and ambivalent on the issue, had virtually approved of Akalis malicious campaign against the BSF”. Condemning SAD’s move, Capt Amarinder expressed his solidarity with the BSF personnel announced that he would hold a solidarity programme in BSF’s support after Maghi celebrations.
“To boost the morale of the forces, who are braving all odds, I will be organizing a public programme to express solidarity with the BSF and tell them that the country actually cares about them and acknowledges their sacrifices and everybody is not like the Akalis and the BJP who are out to demoralise them and ignore their sacrifices,” he said.
Former Chief Minister pointed out that on the one hand, the BSF was involved in a bloody battle with Pakistan paying with the life of its men, the Akalis were staging protests against them and that too when it was already doing its job well. “Akalis are trying to shift their own blame on the BSF,” he said adding, “when we should be boosting the morale of our forces, some people are out there to defame and demoralise them”.