Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday urged the Election Commission to send back the outsiders brought into the state by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during election time as it could disturb the State’s peace and lead to violence.
Capt Amarinder said he had written to EC to take serious cognizance of the fact that the AAP had inducted more than 27,000 people of Punjabi origin settled elsewhere, including foreign nationals, and 40,000 volunteers from other States to campaign for their candidates.
Apprehending serious trouble, including a ‘Punjab versus outsiders’ divide as a result of this, Capt Amarinder said that these people were going door-to-door with all kinds of false and misleading propaganda, and were organising rallies against the Election Commission of India (ECI) instructions.
As per ECI guidelines, outsiders cannot stay in Punjab for elections on the appointed dates and are supposed to leave the State 48 hours before the polling, said Capt Amarinder in his letter.
Further, he said there was tremendous resentment among the local youth who were likely to confront these outsiders, which could lead to violent clashes before and during the poll.
He said most of these people from outside Punjab were being guided and monitored in three regions of the state, namely Majha, Doaba and Malwa by three different leaders, Durgesh Pathak, Sanjay Singh, and Jarnail Singh respectively. Some of these foreign nationals are assuring the youth to take them abroad for jobs, he added.
In order to save the situation for peaceful election, he urged the ECI that these outsiders to be identified and moved out immediately, else it will cause grave law order situation.
Capt Amarinder said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had clearly shown that he neither had the time nor the interest to look after the people of Punjab and their welfare. AAP had absolutely no connect with this state and was only trying to exploit the poll opportunity to promote its vested interests, he added.
Castigating the Badals for the devastation caused to the state by their corrupt and anti-people policies, Captain Amarinder said they had looted the people from every nook and corner, through their multitude of mafias, including liquor, transport, sand, cable etc.
Sand, for instance, was `6,000 crore business while the state was earning a mere `35 crore from it, clearly indicating a deep nexus between the sand mafia and the ruling Akalis, he added.
He also lambasted Badal for failing to protect the water rights of Punjab, bringing the state, particularly the southern region of Malwa, to the brink of aridity.
Capt Amarinder also hit out at SAD chief Sukhbir Badal for copying the Congress promise of farm debt waiver, asking him what he had been doing for the past 10 years and why the Akali Government had not taken care of the interests of the farmers all this while.