Hours before he was “officially” declared candidate from lambi, Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday declared that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s home constituency would be his “karambhoomi”.
Capt Amarinder announced that from lambi, he would teach the Badals a lesson for the savagery and atrocities they had unleashed on the people of Punjab over the past ten years, and he would get all cases of religious sacrilege thoroughly investigated and punish the Badals if found guilty.
The former Chief Minister, addressing a rally at Chamkaur Sahib, said, “While Patiala is my ‘janambhoomi’ to which I owe my emotional roots, I have chosen lambi as my ‘karambhoomi’ since I owe it to the people of Punjab to teach the Badals a lesson for all their crimes and misdeeds.”
He said the Badals have spent the past ten years bolstering their family interests, with all the key businesses in the state owned by them and the Akali-patronised mafia ruling Punjab. He asked Badal where he would take all the wealth he had accumulated. “Will you take it with you when you leave this worldIJ” he asked, taking a dig at the Badals over the multi-crore assets they had built during their rule of Punjab.
Capt Amarinder lashed out at the Badal-led SAD-BJP government for failing to protect the religious fabric of Punjab, pointing out that they had even failed to complete the memorial started by the Congress in “this historic land where Bade Sahibzade sacrificed his life along with forty others.”
The Badals have only been interested in building hotels to boost their personal interests, he added, in an apparent reference to Sukhbir Badal’s Sukhvilas.
He also cited various incidents of sacrilege that had been taking place in Punjab in recent months to expose ‘maari soch’ of the Badals, who were out to divide and polarise the State on communal lines. “I will get all cases of sacrilege investigated and if they (Badals) are found guilty I will throw them into jail,” he said.
Also taking on AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s fumbling attempts to project himself as a Sikh Punjabi by trying to wear a turban during his public meetings and rallies, Capt Amarinder warned the people against being taken in by his frivolous gimmicks.
“He’s a liar out to snatch power in Punjab and become the Chief Minister of the State,” said Capt Amarinder, adding that the thousands of outsiders he was bringing into Punjab for the elections would take no time to run away after the polls.