In the wake of the security threat to the convoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi a day before, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday responded to those questioning Punjab’s nationalistic credentials, saying Punjabis have never ever shied away from making sacrifices for the nation and are as patriot a race as any other in the country.
Referring to Wednesday’s incident of the Prime Minister having to go back without addressing the crowd at Ferozepur, the Chief Minister said that the fact of the matter was that barely 700 people turned up at rally site which forced the PM to retrace his steps and later the blame was pinned on the Punjab Government citing security threat to the Prime Minister.
“The truth is that five days before the scheduled rally of the Prime Minister, the Special Prxotection Group (SPG) took over the landing spot, rally site, and each security detail; but later on, the Prime Minister's cavalcade suddenly took land route,” said Channi adding that the route was cleared by the SPG.
The Chief Minister reiterated that if there is any danger to the Prime Minister then every Punjabi is nationalist enough to shed his blood and face the bullets as they have done before in the service of the nation.
Sounding a note of caution, Channi asked the forces inimical to Punjab to stop defaming the State. He also questioned what the intelligence paraphernalia around the Prime Minister was doing had they sensed any threat to the latter's safety.
Likewise, Channi also asked the anti-Punjab forces to shun vendetta politics and advised them to ponder over why the people, especially farmers, don't like them.
CHANNI BRIEFS SONIA GANDHI
Amidst the huge controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security lapse, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday had a telephonic conversation with Congress national president Sonia Gandhi to brief her on the evolving situation.
Facing the allegations of security lapse, Congress has been enmeshed in a major political tussle with the BJP over the incident. The BJP has accused the Congress of having “hatched a conspiracy” with “murderous intent” towards the Prime Minister. The event, it said, was engineered with the collaboration of the state police and the protesting farmers.
At the same time, the Chief Minister Channi was accused of not attending to the SOS calls when Prime Minister was stuck, for about 15-20 minutes, at a flyover.
On the other hand, the Congress had, so far, blamed it on the “sudden change” in the Prime Minister's schedule, alleging that in a breach of protocol, the change was made without the knowledge of the state police.
But the State Government has found itself at a disadvantage as the matter reached the Supreme Court, where a petition has called for the dismissal of the state's Home Minister and the police chief.