Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann addressed a huge public rally in Gurdaspur on Thursday and started the election campaign of Shery Kalsi with a flair of his own. Mann attacked the Akali and Congress leaders who have constantly failed Punjab and also lamented the former MPs of Gurdaspur for neglecting the seat after winning it. Before reaching the rally ground, Mann also paid his obeisance at historic Hanuman Mandir of Gurdaspur and prayed for strength to fight these elections to save our constitution.
Addressing the huge gathering, Mann said that this election is not about winning or defeating anyone. This election is our last chance to save the constitution of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. This election is our one chance to save our democracy, if the hate mongers came to power again, they will finish our democracy, India will become a dictatorship under their rule, there will be no more elections in our country. Mann asked the voters to look closely at their voter cards. Your voter cards have the essence of our martyrs in them. You will feel the smell of the blood of Shaheed-e-azam Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Chander Shekhar Azad and Lala Lajpat Rai in those identity cards. Because even in British rule, people used to breathe, work, get married etc. but, we didn’t have the right to vote then. Our martyrs laid their lives for this right. So use your right to vote responsibly, do not waste your vote because someone asked you to vote a certain person or party, do not sell your vote for alcohol, drugs or cash. Decide for yourself, you owe it to our martyrs.
Mann also lamented the previous MPs of Gurdaspur and said that ‘dhai killo ka hath’ is pulling out hand pumps on the other side of border but do not come to check on the people who send him to the parliament. Before him, you elected another actor who in the parliament used to ask me why I go among people. They are from Bombay, Punjab’s sun doesn’t suit them, but we are common people like you, I can’t even sleep if I’m not among my people, working for them. Shery Kalsi is one of you, elect him, send him to the parliament, he has experience, I’ll guide him further, he will be your voice in the parliament, he will stay among you to do your work. He said that the AAP candidate will even settle all losses that Gurdaspur faced due to negligence in the last ten years.
Bhagwant Mann also attacked Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa and said that the Congress murdered his dreams of becoming CM. Mann said that he is the person who called the sons and daughters of common families material. He also built the most toll plazas from Chandigarh to Gurdaspur highway while being the PWD minister. Instead of doing something for the common people of his constituency, he sided with the looters, I closed those toll plazas after coming to power. They (Congress and Akali governments) used to extend timelines of these toll plazas and give them license to loot the common people. He also mocked Bajwa and said that his own brother is in the BJP. He said that the people trusted them again and again, sent them to the assembly, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha but they did nothing for the people.
Mann said that the votes of people for the Aam Aadmi Party will be their award for the work of the Mann government. Your votes will be the validation of our decisions and works. He said that elect Shery Kalsi as your MP, it will boost my confidence too, I will work even harder for the development of Gurdaspur. He asked the people to give him 13 more arms and voices and strengthen him to work for the people and Punjab.
Mann said that before the farmers used to get 8 hours of electricity, that too heavily interpreted, because dynast politicians don’t know anything about farming. But after forming the government, Mann called a meeting of officers and instructed them to give 11 hours of uninterrupted electricity to the farmers and that too in daytime so they can water their crops without any trouble. Mann said that in daylight we give you electricity to our farmers, and at night we sell surplus electricity to big cities like Mumbai. Mann said that the PSPCL earned 90 crores by selling electricity. It was only possible because we have three thermal plants now and a coal mine in Jharkhand. He said that there was few unfortunate incidents of fire in fields, so there are few cuts of electricity but do not worry your government will compensate any of the loss you suffer. He said that governments are formed to keep the fire of your kitchens going and to make rest of your lives easier.
Mann said that on his one request the farmers, instead of PUSA-44, cultivated PIR-126, PIR-127, PIR-128 etc, which saved 477 crores worth electricity and 500 billion cubic groundwater. Mann said that he didn’t even have to make law about it, people listen to him and work alongside him to save the resources of our state. He said that it is because he works according to the people, he listens to the people and their problems and their demands.
Mann also took a dig at Akali Dal and said that their leaders Sukhbir Badal and Harsimrat Badal don’t even know how things works in farming. He said that no one is even ready to fight elections on the SAD-Badal ticket, they are unable to even find 13 candidates, they are finished in Punjab. Sukhbir Badal is taking our ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’, from what he is saving Punjab from, just recently we’ve got Punjab freed from the clutches of Badals. He said that maybe they’ve some arrangement with Dharamraj, because rest of the people know that no capital goes with us after death, but they kept on looting Punjab and its people like they will take it all with them even in the afterlife. He said that no matter what they do now, the people of Punjab will not forgive them, they are responsible for sacrilege incidents in Punjab, they ruined our youth and their future.
Mann said that the journalists in Delhi asked him how much corruption has cost our country, I told them we will calculate once its stopped, because corruption is still going on, there are looters at the top who are selling the resources and institutes of this country to the capitalists. Mann said that the corruption will stop the day Arvind Kejriwal became the PM, the corruption will stop in this country the day we have the Aam Aadmi Party government at the centre.