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AAP, Congress hit out at Centre over Panjab University clampdown
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa also slammed alleged police actions.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday condemned the alleged lathi-charge on students at Panjab University in Chandigarh, blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government.
Addressing a press conference here, Cheema challenged the BJP state leaders to demonstrate their commitment by visiting PU and apologising to students. “The BJP is repeatedly conspiring to disrupt the state’s atmosphere. The central government tried to undermine the university’s democratic structure by issuing the notification to abolish the senate, and then withdrawing it following widespread opposition”, he added.
Cheema, while reiterating the AAP’s support for the PU students, slammed the police action on students who were protesting to demand the announcement of the date for the long-delayed senate elections.
The cabinet minister Harbhajan Singh ETO also lashed out at the Centre for not announcing the date for senate elections. He added that the protest against the central government will continue till the announcement of the date of the senate elections.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa also slammed alleged police actions.
In a statement issued here today, Warring said that the central government, the Chandigarh administration, and the PU administration do not seem to understand the grave sensitivity of the situation.
“People of Punjab have strong sentiments attached to the Panjab University,” he added. Bajwa said that the attempt to “crush dissent is undemocratic and exposes the BJP’s fear.”
“The BJP has made repeated attempts to dissolve and restructure the university’s senate and syndicate. Each time, it was the united resistance of students, opposition parties, farm unions, and civil society that forced the Centre to retreat. Now, by manipulating the senate election process, they are striking again at the heart of democracy,” he said.
