JALLANDHAR, March 6: The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh today challenged the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to prove that he fulfilled a single promise out of hundreds he made to people of Punjab in his election manifesto in 2007. Capt Amarinder also called for a Second Green Revolution in Punjab to save the agriculture economy.
Addressing a mammoth rally here today, the PCC President read out the promises made by Mr Badal to the people of Punjab, from a copy of the Akali Dal 2007 election manifesto while pointing out that not a single promise was fulfilled. He said, there were hundreds of promises made in the manifesto and it was not possible to read those all. He said, he will expose each and every promise of the Akalis which they broke and betrayed the trust of people.
Responding to the mammoth rally, he said, it reflected the disillusionment and alienation of people from this government as it had not done anything. “It made promises with a sole motive of breaking them”, he remarked, while adding, with the result people were firm to vote them out now.
He said, the Badals reputation among public has gone so much down that people don’t bother any longer about them and now they have started taking the help of film actors to attract crowds. He said, last week the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal went to Ludhiana with one actor and today he was coming to Jallandhar with few more actors so that crowds come to his functions. “You can well imagine the popularity of a leader who depends upon the film stars to pull crowds”, Capt Amarinder remarked.
The PCC President launched a scathing attack on the BJP for maligning the unblemished image of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. He said, BJP was as corrupt as the Akalis and not only at the local level but nationally as well. He pointed out, while the Congress took no time to remove all those against whom there were allegations of corruption, BJP in contrast had defended the Karnataka chief Minister Yediruppa, who was an epitome of corruption.
Capt Amarinder said, when a BJP leader and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jagdish Sawhney levelled allegations against the health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla and Local Bodies and Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia, instead of investigating the allegations and taking action against the two ministers, Sawhney was removed from the post.
The former Chief Minister called for a Second Green Revolution in Punjab that could revive the agriculture economy. He said, Punjab needed new crops as the traditional crops were not generating enough revenues for the farmers.
He also underlined the need for improving the primary education and primary healthcare. He said, there was great scope for information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology which could generate good jobs. However, he said, for that the students need good primary education and it cannot be provided by the private schools alone.
Capt Amarinder said, the education in the government schools needed to be improved and they are quite capable of that. He said, not many people can afford private education for their children hence it was important to provide best education in government schools. Arguing that the government schools can also provide best education, he quoted the example of Dr Manmohan Singh, saying he also studied in a government school and became the Prime Minister of India.
Expressing his serious concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab, he said, the crime incidents had become too frequent and regular while government was not concerned. Having a dig at the government, he said, an Inspector General of Police had got himself photographed returning the golden chain of a lady as if he had done some wonder. “This government takes pride in recovering one single chain while hundreds and thousands of crime incidents go on unabated and unchecked”, he pointed out.
Addressing the rally, leader of the opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Bibi Rajinder Kaur Bhattal lashed out at the BJP saying, it had betrayed the trust of people. She ridiculed the plight of the BJP saying despite its support being crucial to government’s survival BJP leaders were continuously humiliated by the Akalis.
Asking Sukhbir as what happened to metro train in Jallandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar, she remarked, the only train that is running in Punjab is the train of corruption and going straight to a seven star hotel in Gurgaon.
Newly appointed CWC member and Jallandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee also addressed the rally.
On this occasion former MLA Raj Kumar Gupta rejoined the Congress. Besides three senior retired IAS officers also joined the party. They include Dr Swaran Singh, MS Virdi and Narinder Singh.
Prominent among those present on the occasion included Chaudahry Jagjit Singh, who was the in charge of the rally, Sukhjinder Randhawa, who was coordinating on behalf of PCC, Lal Singh, Chaudhary Santokh Singh, Amarjit Singh Samra, Avtar Henry, Tej Prakash, Gurkanwal Kaur, Gurminder Atwal, Arvind Khanna, Gobind Khatra, Gautam Kapoor, Arun Walia, Vikram Chaudhary and others.
