Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday ridiculed the false and baseless claims of the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal about the performance of his government during last nine years.
Terming the claims to be a bundle of lies, Capt Amarinder Singh said "Given the quantum and the record of lies to his credit, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal has put to shame even Joseph Goebbels, who believed that repeating a lie would make it sound true"
However, he added, Punjab was not Hitler's Germany and it was twenty first century and Punjabis were much more aware.
"No matter how many lies you tell, no matter how many times you repeat these, the lies will always remain to be lies, particularly when these pour out from someone like you who has lost all the credentials and credibility", he said.
Referring to Sukhbir's claims of having multiplied revenue as compared to his government between 2002 and 2007, Capt Amarinder pointed out, the Akali-BJP Government has increased VAT by several times ranging from 6 to 15 percent on different items, from 2 percent during his (Capt Amarinder's) regime.
Similarly Collector rates have been increased by 5 times as also the charges on the change of land use, he pointed out, while adding the government was not taking into consideration the inflation over these years. The former Chief Minister said, at some places the Collector rates are more than the market price of the land, which is unprecedented.
"The matter of the fact is that the development has come to a standstill and the rates of land have fallen by more than 70 percent and still Sukhbir will try to make people believe that all is well", he remarked, adding that one of the main source of revenue comes from manufacturing sector, which during the last nine years has gone down since most of the industry in Punjab has either shut down or shifted out.
"This is because this government has no industrial policy as at best it is indifferent and at worst hostile towards the trade and industry that has led to its doom", he remarked