The Fact News Service
Chandigarh, April 27
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said urged Punjabis to reject all Delhi parties Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who had allegedly referred to Punjabi as separatists from time to time.
Addressing a press conference here, SAD spokespersons Arshdeep Singh Kler and Harjit Bhullar said “it is condemnable that Delhi-based parties are igniting communal passions by talking about ‘mangalsutras’ and casteist politics instead of talking about development or social welfare”.
Stating that these parties were insulting the constitution, the leaders said “Punjabis will reject this communal and caste based agenda and will support the SAD which stands for a truly secular country based on the lofty principles of sarbat da bhala propounded by our Guru Sahiban”.
Kler and Mr Bhullar also took on the Congress, BJP and AAP for labeling the farmers of the State as separatists and terrorists. Asserting that the lead had been taken by the Congress party during the period of terrorism in Punjab, the leaders said “an entire generation of Punjabis was labeled as separatists by this party”.
He said the BJP and AAP had colluded with each other against the recent farmer agitation and had worked in tandem with the thought process which termed the farmers of the State as terrorists.
The leaders also came down heavily on chief minister Bhagwant Mann and asked him why he had steered clear of discussing the issues of Punjab and was focused on a divisive agenda.
“The chief minister should tell what he has done for Punjabis in the last two years instead of harping on what went wrong in the last 75 years. He should tell why he bankrupted Punjab by taking on a loan of Rs 91,000 crore but had nothing to show by way of infrastructure development”.
Kler and Bhullar also asked the chief minister to tell why he had ordered an attack on a revered gurdwara in Sultanpur Lodhi and why his government was denying social welfare benefits to the poor and underprivileged sections of society.
The SAD also accused Bhagwant Mann of colluding with the Congress and gave the example of how the AAP government had taken an about-turn and said it would not proceed with the trial of Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira in a drug case even though it was responsible for his arrest in the case. The leaders also accused the chief minister of betraying Punjabis by going back on his promise to purchase all crops on minimum support price in the State besides failing to give them compensation for repeated crop damages. EOM
