Political blame-game, electioneering on Monday took the centre stage during the religious congregation of ‘Jor Mela’ at Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab to mark the sacrifice of two sons of Silhs’ tenth master, Guru Gobind Singh as the State is gearing up for polls early next year.
The conferences organised by all the major political parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress, witnessed leaders blaming each other for pushing the state into a mess.
Both SAD and Congress targeted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) urging the people not to support the new party terming it as “a party of outsiders”. Interestingly, AAP’s conference witnessed poor gathering.
While only politics reigned in all the conferences, the religious issues were discussed and raised from the stage of the various panthic parties that organised the Sarbat khalsa.
BADAl ASKS PEOPlE TO BEWARE OF CONG, AAP’S FAlSE PROPAGANDA
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday told the people of the State to be wary of the “nefarious designs and false propaganda” unleashed by the Congress and AAP to “deceit” the innocent voters by “promising a moon” to them only to capture power in the State “by hook or crook”.
Badal said that God forbid, in case these “anti-Punjab and anti-Sikh” parties were “inadvertently” voted to power, they would “ruin” the state’s rich cultural legacy based on the age-old traditions of love, peace, brotherhood and harmony.
He alleged that the leaders of these parties were “inimical” to the interests of Punjab and would again push the state into a phase of economic backwardness, thereby halting the process of overall development and prosperity achieved due to the concerted efforts of the ruling SAD-BJP alliance through a decade-long hard work and systematic planning.
He claimed that if voted to power, the Congress as well as the AAP would discontinue with several pro-people schemes and subsidies.
Badal alleged that during his stint as the Punjab Chief Minister, state Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh had discontinued with the free power scheme to the people and added that welfare schemes were a “distant dream” during his regime.
He said that the ruling combine had taken a number of “pro-people and pro-farmer” initiatives such as the Atta-Dal, Pension, Shagun, Mai Bhago Vidya schemes, Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Beema Yojna and free power for agriculture.
Badal reiterated that Punjab neither had spare water to share with anyone, nor was there any need to construct the Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal, adding that “nobody would be allowed” to construct it in the future.
He said that water was the basic ingredient of life and any move to share the state’s river waters would be disastrous as it would “devastate” Punjab, adding that there was no question of constructing the SYl canal as it was a “closed chapter” now.
Badal alleged that while signing the SYl canal agreement, the then Congress Government at the Centre had “blatantly ignored” the universally accepted Riparian Principle on river water sharing. “Every Punjabi is duty-bound to oppose the move and all of us should pledge to protect the waters of the state at any cost,” he said.
SUKHBIR EXHORTS AKAlI RANKS-NOT TO REST UNTIl VICTORY IN PUNJAB POllS
Deputy Chief Minister and SAD president Sukhbir Badal exhorted the Akali ranks to work with full zeal and not to rest until the target of victory at assembly polls is achieved.
He asked them to boot out both anti-Punjab parties — the Congress and AAP — from the State.
He said that SAD is the true representative body of the Punjabi community world over, especially the Sikhs, and SAD has always stood by poor sections, farmers, traders and the youth through their every thick and thin.
Taking pot-shots at the Congress party, he said that it is rather unfortunate that Capt Amarinder Singh, who spent his entire lifetime playing petty politics in Punjab, now has to learn nitty-gritty of politics from an outsider PK (Prashant Kishore) by paying him Rs 20 crore.
Taking further dig at Capt Amarinder, he said that the Punjab Congress chief doesn’t know himself that whether his high command would make him the Chief Minister or not.
“After the fiasco of ‘Coffee with Captain’, the Congress party should initiate ‘Jail with Captain’ as he has to face jail after verdict on hawala transactions,” he said.
CAPT: RISE IN SACRIlEGE INCIDENTS SHOW POlARISATION IN PUNJAB
Hitting out at the SAD-BJP Government over a recent increase in incidents of religious sacrilege, Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh said that the cases underlined lawlessness and communal polarisation in the state.
Capt Amarinder, addressing Congress conference, condemned the incidents saying that religious attacks would not tolerated in Punjab and those responsible must be punished.
He said that there has been an increase in such incidents and cited the police firing in Bargari in which two youth were killed in police firing during a protest against a sacrilege incident in October.
“These (cases) underlined the state of lawlessness and communal polarisation into which Punjab had been plunged during the Badal regime,” he said questioning the governance of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, ruling the state since 2007.
He urged the people to vote for Congress to “save Punjab” from the Badal family and Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, who were “only interested in promoting their interests”.
Punjab Congress chief questioned where the Badals had got the money for personal projects and businesses, without elaborating which projects or businesses he was referring to.
He also accused Majithia of selling drugs. “He and the Badals have ruined an entire generation of youth in Punjab,” he said.
The problem, he claimed, was so rampant in his previous lok Sabha constituency Amritsar that there were many villages where there was no surviving male member.
He also attacked the state government over “300-odd political appointments” made in the past few days. He said that the Badals made the appointments in a bid to place their “own people” in plum posts ahead of the imposition of the code of conduct.
Promising “free” power to farm sector and a reduction in in the tariff for industrial and commercial consumers, he said if Congress is voted to power no subsidy would be withdrawn.
He reiterated his promise not to allow a “single drop of water” to go out of Punjab. “The Akali government led by Parkash Singh Badal failed to protect the states rights in the SYl case but I will fight on it till my last breath.”