A day after Aam Aadmi Party’s Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann criticised the state government for mortgaging Amritsar mental asylum to tackle bankruptcy, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Jagir Kaur defended the move on Sunday here and said mortgaging the mental asylum was not a big deal as the state did not have any mentally challenged patients.
“There are no mentally challenged patients in Punjab, so the government’s move of mortgaging the mental asylum is no big deal,” Kaur said. She further said the state government was working for the development of Punjab and was not facing any financial crisis as alleged by the opposition parties.
“Had we been facing any financial crisis, the government would not have given grants to construct roads and sewerage system across the district. Such hearsay is only the handiwork of opposition parties, who are misleading people with false information,” she said.
The former minister was in Mansa to attend a Lohri function, ‘Dhiyan di Lohri’ (Lohri for girls), celebrated in honour of the girl child, which was organised at Mata Sundri Girls College to create awareness regarding women’s empowerment. The function was organised by women wing of SAD.
When asked whether stringent laws should be made for tackling cases of honour killing, the former SGPC member, who is out on bail in a suspected case of honour killing of her daughter, said that rather than creating new laws, the society needed to change its mindset.
{{/usCountry}}When asked whether stringent laws should be made for tackling cases of honour killing, the former SGPC member, who is out on bail in a suspected case of honour killing of her daughter, said that rather than creating new laws, the society needed to change its mindset.
{{/usCountry}}“Laws and fast-track courts are not a solution for curbing problems like honour killing. The society’s mindset towards the girl child needs to be changed,” she said.
Kaur also took a jibe at new AAP entrant Sukhpal Singh Khaira and said he could never pose a challenge to her in electoral politics. She added that Kahira’s fortunes will never change even after joining AAP.
The Lohri programme at the college was also attended by SAD MLAs Prem Mittal and Chatan Singh Samao and college principal Barinder Kaur. Hundreds of women with their new born babies participated in the programme, which was aimed at creating awareness regarding women’s empowerment.
“Normally the festival of Lohri is celebrated for baby boys or on the occasion of marriage of a son. We want to change this tradition and mindset as Lohri should also be celebrated if a family is blessed with a girl child or when she gets married,” said Barinder Kaur.