Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today urged Punjabis to boycott chief minister Bhagwant Mann for insulting Shaheed Bhagat Singh by misusing the martyr’s native village and museum to hold a protest demanding the release of multi-hundred crore liquor scam accused Arvind Kejriwal.
The SAD president, who received a tremendous response during the Samrala and Bassi Pathana leg of his Punjab Bachao Yatra, said “it is shocking that Bhagwant Mann, who has used to swear by the name of the martyr, misused the Shaheed Bhagat Singh museum to hold a party protest which seeks the release of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who has been denied bail in the liquor scam case by the courts”. Terming this as a reprehensible act, Badal said “Bhagwant Mann did not visit Khatkar Kalan even on the martyrdom day of Shaheed Bhagat Singh on March 23 and now he is misusing the site to seek relief for his boss Kejriwal”. He also condemned the AAP government for misusing the State police to restrict entry of farmers to their fields in the village besides restricting movement of people in the village during the sham protest which witnessed an attendance of a few hundred AAP party workers.
Asserting that the chief minister had abrogated all his responsibilities, Badal said the last few days witnessed a woman being disrobed and paraded naked in Tarn Taran but even this did not persuade the chief minister to visit the victim’s family. He said the chief minister seemed to be content holding farcical protests to seek the release of Kejriwal, even as Punjab was slipping into anarchy. “The complete collapse of the law and order situation coupled with the heightened drug menace is tearing apart the society. Traders and industrialists, who face extortion calls on a daily basis, are fleeing the State resulting in a flight of capital worth Rs 20,000 crore”.
Urging Punjabis to see through Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and all other Delhi based parties who were making tall promises before the parliamentary elections but would work against the interests of Punjab immediately after the elections were over, said “let us make this election one in which Punjabis strengthen their own regional party”. He said the SAD had always remained committed to the core issues of Punjab and would continue to fight for the just resolution.
Badal, who was accompanied by Paramjit Singh Dhillon in Samrala and Darbara Singh Guru in Bassi Pathana, also warned the people not to fall for the tricks of the Congress party, which had not only attacked Sri Darbar Sahib and conducted a mass genocide against Sikhs in 1984, but was also responsible for failing farmers by refusing to waive off their loans when elected to power in 2017 despite solemn promises to do so.
The SAD leader said the SAD was responsible for giving the free power facility to farmers, introducing novel social welfare schemes like old age pension, atta-daal and shagun and establishing world class infrast
muktakructure including four lane highways and airports
Among others, Bikram Singh Khalsa, Gurpreet Singh Raju Khanna, Sarabjit Singh Jhinjar, Jasmail Singh Baundli were prominent who accompanied the party president..