The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday asked the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) not to politicise the killing of two dalit youth in Khanna police district for their vested political interests.
“Knowing fully well that the State Government has already meted out exemplary punishment to the delinquent police officials, they should not politicise the incident,” said SAD general secretary and core committee member Maheshinder Singh Grewal. He said that it was strange that both the Congress and AAP, which had been rejected by the people of the State, had joined hands out of frustration to derive political mileage out of a tragic incident.
Asking the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Partap Singh Bajwa to explain what he meant by exemplary punishment, the SAD leader asked whether dismissal from service of police personnel directly involved in the incident and suspension of the Khanna SSP was not exemplary punishment.
“I am sure Bajwa would remember that during erstwhile Congress regime, of which he was a part, clean chits were given to criminals even before investigations could be conducted in the cases. When you yourself have behaved so uncaringly in power, it does not behove you to shed crocodile tears to gain political mileage,” said Grewal. He said that the Deputy Chief Minster-cum-Home Minister Sukhbir Badal had given clear cut directions to the police force that no one was above the law. “It is because of this that strict disciplinary action has always been taken in case of any misdemeanour on the part of the police force,” he said.
SAD leader said that the less said about AAP leader Bhagwant Mann the better. “Mann is fond of playing the role of a street performer and he gave one such performance yesterday at Samrala. It is because of Mann’s such acts that AAP’s popularity had touched its lowest ebb in the State. AAP would be well advised to make a mature and mentally stable representative its face in Punjab,” he added.
Assuring the people that the SAD-BJP Government would ensure justice in Khanna incident, Grewal urged the people not to pay any heed to rumour mongers and mischief makers who wanted to destroy the hard own peace in the State.