Following Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal's statement about the attack on Lt Gen Kuldip Singh Brar (retd), the Punjab Congress on Wednesday questioned why the CM had refrained from condemning the incident.
Prior to the chief minister's statement in Patiala, state Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh dubbed Badal a "moral and physical coward" and questioned the CM's silence on the attack. In a statement issued here, Amarinder asked the chief minister to clarify his stand on the incident.
He said Badal could not stick to his characteristic fence-sitting position on such issues. "You are either with the terrorists who attacked Gen Brar or against them," he said, telling Badal that "with your silence you have clearly conveyed that you are with the terrorists who attacked Gen Brar."
Stating that his own stand on Operation Bluestar was too well-known to everyone and more so to Badal and other Akalis, the former chief minister said he did not need a certificate from anybody to prove his credentials, much less from Badal, who had a habit and history of betrayals with everyone.
"You need to have moral courage to call a spade a spade and that is what I did in 1984 and that is what I am doing now", he told Badal, challenging him to show similar courage and make his stand clear.
{{/usCountry}}"You need to have moral courage to call a spade a spade and that is what I did in 1984 and that is what I am doing now", he told Badal, challenging him to show similar courage and make his stand clear.
{{/usCountry}}Cong MLA slams BJP's silence
Sangrur: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary and Dhuri MLA Arvind Khanna on Wednesday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for keeping mum over the attack on Lt Gen Kuldip Singh Brar.
Ridiculing the ultra-nationalist claims of the BJP, Khanna said the way the BJP leaders have preferred to maintain silence on such an issue of national concern showed that the party was more concerned about staying in the Punjab government rather than following its policies and principles.
"BJP leaders seem to remain oblivious to what is happening in and outside Punjab," he added.
Khanna said it was not for the first time that the BJP had preferred political opportunism to national interest. Earlier, BJP leaders kept mum on the issue of construction of the Operation Bluestar memorial by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
He said the BJP should clear its stand on such serious and critical issues, which directly or indirectly affected situations in Punjab.
Khanna also criticised the Shiromani Akali Dal for neither coming out clearly against acts of terror and condemning these unambiguously.