Capt accuses Akalis of double standards on NRC

Slamming it for double standards on the National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday asked

Slamming it for double standards on the National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday asked the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to clarify its stand on support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre.

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In a hard-hitting reaction to SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Rajya Sabha member Naresh Gujral’s statements seeking inclusion of Muslims in CAA, Amarinder said it was patently obvious that the Akalis were playing double games in the matter. He said it was clear that the SAD leaders had decided to backtrack on their earlier stand in view of the public protests and backlash triggered by CAA/NRC.

“The SAD supported the CAA in Parliament, but had since come out with conflicting statements on the legislation, as well as the National Register of Citizens (NRC),” Amarinder said in a statement, accusing the Akalis of misleading the people on these sensitive issues.

He said it was time the Akalis clarified their stand on alliance with the NDA as people wanted to know whether the Akalis favoured BJP’s divisive and hardline ideology on key issues, including those that affect the Indian Constitutional principles and values. “The people are no longer willing to be fooled by the SAD’s dual standards and misleading statements,” he said.

Such contradictory stands and statements had exposed the fact that the Akalis were only interested in promoting their vested political interests, and had no ideological principles on any issue of national importance.