Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Friday lashed out at Congress-led UPA Government for failing to check hate crimes against Sikhs residing in foreign countries, particularly Philippines.
“It is unfortunate that every third day, a Sikh is being murdered in Manila and the Centre has failed to seriously address the issue,” said Sukhbir while speaking to reporters after administering oath of office to newly-elected 344 sarpanches and 2,457 panches of Moga district. “It is a matter of shame that the Centre has not even written a single letter to the government in Philippines against this, even though the Union Minister of State for External Affairs is from Punjab,” he said.
Responding to a question on Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa's comments on IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, Sukhbir said that Congress has lost its moral right to say anything on illegal sand mining as only a day before, the mining mafia tried to kill the SDM of Nalagarh in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh.“The mining lobby, whether in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab or in Karnataka, has direct patronage of Congress politicians who have been controlling the supply and demand of mining products to keep their prices artificially high,” he said.
On being asked about the existence of People’s Party of Punjab, he said: “This proxy group of Congress is non-existent in Punjab as all wickets of it have fallen.” Answering a query regarding return of Manpreet Badal in SAD, Sukhbir said that it would be decided by the party whether to bring him back or not.