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BJP giving communal angle to polls: Sukhbir
In a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, SAD chief Sukhbir Badal said the BJP was giving a communal angle to the Lok Sabha elections and recent speeches of the PM reflected the fear of losing polls
Faridkot : In a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, SAD chief Sukhbir Badal said the BJP was giving a communal angle to the Lok Sabha elections and recent speeches of the PM reflected the fear of losing polls.
“Despite being the PM, Modi has started targeting a religion directly. This country is for everyone no matter how many they are in numbers. If the BJP comes back to power, the next target would be Sikhs. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has already taken control of historic Sikh shrines in other states. Make the SAD strong so that we can fight against them,” Sukhbir said, referring to Modi’s ‘mangalsutra’ remark, wherein he said the Congress’ agenda was to redistribute the country’s wealth among “infiltrators” and that “they won’t even leave your mangalsutras” if voted to power.
The SAD chief, who addressed a series of rallies in Gidderbaha, Rampura Phul, Jaito and Kotkapura in support of party’s Faridkot Lok Sabha candidate Rajwinder Singh, accused the PM of targeting minorities and pitting religious communities against each other.
Targeting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Sukhbir said the party’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has already set his plan in motion to give Punjab’s river water share to Haryana.
He alleged that Kejriwal has ordered chief minister Bhagwant Mann to give Punjab’s river water to Haryana. “The state government is asking canal patwaris to issue certificates that there is sufficient water in the canals in their respective areas. Those who refused to issue such certificates has been suspended,” Sukhbir alleged, claiming that through this, they are paving the way for the Haryana to stake claim on Punjab’s river waters in the Supreme Court.
He also asked people to reject Delhi-based parties “who were bent on dividing people among caste and communal lines”. He urged them to support their own regional party which was fighting to safeguard their rights.
“Punjab is at the crossroads. While Delhi-based parties that have always looted the state and have consistently denied Punjabis their genuine rights, the SAD has stood for the rights of the people of the state,” he said.
The SAD chief also appealed to the people to analyse what the Congress and AAP had delivered vis a vis the SAD. “Both these parties have betrayed you. They have gone back on their promises to waive farmer loans, end drug menace, give ₹2,500 per month unemployment allowance and ₹1,000 per month allowance to women.” He said in stark contrast, the SAD had undertaken a number of pro-farmer and pro-poor steps without even promising the same. “We introduced free power facility for farmers. We introduced novel social welfare schemes like atta-daal, Shagun and old age pension,” he added.
He said CM Bhagwant Mann was working against the interests of Punjab. This government has not brought one project to Punjab till now. He said in stark contrast the erstwhile SAD governments had made Punjab power surplus by establishing thermal plants, bringing world class facilities like AIIMS to the state, besides four-lane highways and airports.
To connect with the voters, Sukhbir said: “I still remember that during my school days, I used to campaign for my father Parkash Singh Badal in Gidderbaha. Badal Saab established a relationship with each house of this constituency as he started his political career from here,” Sukhbir said.
