PATIALA, November 11: Entire Patiala today came out to receive and cheer Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh as he, accompanied by the Minister of State for External Affairs Ms Perneet Kaur, who is also the local MP, was led in an open vehicle followed by a cavalcade of hundreds of cars, amidst thousands of people cheering and showering flower petals along a two kilometre stretch of road from Gurdwara Dukhniwaran to the rally venue in Haqeeqat Rai grounds.
Later addressing the rally, Capt Amarinder expressed grave concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. He said, no road, no lane, no street and no house was safe in Punjab as criminals were having a field day and the Badals had forgotten the governance and were busy amassing the wealth. He pointed out, women were not feeling safe to go out with their jewellery as chain snatching had become so common. He said, vehicles were looted at gunpoint without any fear of law.
The PCC President blamed the misgovernance of the Badals as they had failed to address the issues concerning the common man. He said, there were about 45 lakh unemployed people and the government had not taken any measure to provide them jobs. “And when they try to meet Mr Badal in his sangat darshans he gets them lashed with lathis and kicked out physically”, Capt Amarinder said, while remarking, this may happen under the dictators like Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein but not in a democracy. “But Mr Badal was behaving worse than the dictators”, he remarked.
The former Chief Minister said, not content with the money they made from sand, gravel, liquor, transport and cable, now the Badals have laid their hand on Guru’s Golak. He said, they did not even spare Harmandir Sahib which has started running into the losses for the first time in history. He said, it was surprising that the SGPC president Avtar Makkar did not know, or deliberately feigned ignorance, about the recurring losses in the Harmandir Sahib. “You can well make out what type of an SGPC president he can be other than being the puppet in the hands of the Badals”, he remarked.
Lashing out at the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for spreading lies about the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Punjab, Capt Amarinder asserted, he never said that he did not stop Prime Minister from coming to Punjab. “Yes I did write to him that the Akalis were playing dirty politics and trying to make him inaugurate a project which had already been inaugurated on the Baisakhi in 2006”, he made it clear while adding, “Sukhbir and his father are feeling frustrated that I nailed their lies”.
Referring to the reign of terror let loose by the Akalis during the corporation and panchayat elections and not letting the elected and deserving candidates to work and instead appointing their own men, the PCC President promised that all the Congress panches and sarpanchs who were forcibly removed or made to withdraw will be reinstalled with all the honour and dignity when the Congress comes to power.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State for External Affairs Ms Perneet Kaur underlined the need for providing civic amenities to the people. She said, the Akali-BJP government had failed to provide basic amenities to the people. She regretted that even the famous institutions like the Rajindera Hospital in Patiala had not been given any attention.
Lashing out at the Akalis for being neck deep in corruption, she said, before raising a finger against others, they should look into the mirror. She said, the Akalis had destroyed and devastated Punjab and brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.
Addressing the rally, the CLP leader Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal described the Akalis as the golak chors. She said, Parkash Singh Badal had betrayed the panth and exploited it for his own ends.She said, Badal had muzzled the democracy in Punjab and he will have to account for it. She said, there was widespread resentment against his misrule and people were waiting the opportunity to throw him out.
Prominent among those present on the occasion included PCC vice president Laal Singh, general secretary Arvind Khanna, Fatehgarh Sahib MP Sukhdev Singh Libra, MLAs Randeep Nabha, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Brahm Mohindra, Madan Lal Jalalpur, Nirmal Singh Shatrana, BIS Chahal, Major Amardeep, Vikram Chaudhary, Hardayal Kambhoj, PK Puri, Karanpal Sekhon and others.