Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday warned the ruling Akali Dal against misusing the police in unleashing vendetta against the Congress workers and leaders.
"The illegal detention of three prominent Congress workers who were later released by the warrant officer appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court only vindicated the Congress stand that the Akalis are resorting to vendetta against the party (the Congress) workers," he said.
Referring to a recent incident wherein the warrant officer rescued three prominent Congress workers including one former vice-chairman of Malout Market Committee Balkar Singh, Capt Amarinder said that he along with two others - Sukhdev Singh and Daljeet Singh - were "illegally detained" just because they had refused to support Akali Dal in recently concluded Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections. Maintaining that this was just an example as there were dozens of such incidents where the Congress workers were summoned to the police station at the behest of Akali Jathedars, "arm-twisted, humiliated and forced into submission" and wherever the Congress workers declined to succumb to the intimidation, they were slapped with false cases even murder as happened with the three Congress workers in Malout.Capt Amarinder warned the Akalis that they must not take it for granted that they are in power. "Three and a half years is not a long time and they will have to account for their sins. Congress will not tolerate such intimidation of its workers and will resist all such attempts lock stock and barrel," he added.