Bathinda/Chandigarh, October 29
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lashing out at the rampant corruption, crime, inspector and mafia rule in Punjab, announced that with the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party government in 2022, Punjab will be freed from criminals, goons, corrupt and inspector raj. After April 1, the AAP government will be responsible for the safety of every trader and businessmen.
Addressing the ‘Vyapariyan te Karobariyan nal Kejriwal di galbaat’ programme, while Arvind Kejriwal listened to the problems and needs of the traders and industrialists; he also made two big announcements for businessmen. Kejriwal first announced that after the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party government, after April 1, 2022, the responsibility for the security of every trader would be ours (the AAP government). Stop being afraid and start planning for business and industry development now, he said.
Second, he announced that like Delhi, we (AAP) will give an honest government in Punjab too. Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the people of Punjab, “Punjab has given a lot of opportunities to the Congress, Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party to form the government in Punjab, but now give the Aam Aadmi Party a chance. Give it a chance and no one will be able to shake the AAP government like Delhi.” AAP Punjab president and MP Bhagwant Mann, Punjab affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh, co-in-charge Raghav Chadha, Leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema were present on the stage; while senior leader and MLA Aman Arora officiated the stage.
Arvind Kejriwal sought the cooperation of the traders and businessmen and appealed to the entire business community to become partners in the honest AAP government to be formed in Punjab. Kejriwal said that like other parties we have come not to take money from the traders but to seek cooperation and share in the government as Punjab has to be established on another level and has to be taken to the pinnacle of development.
Kejriwal promised to eradicate crime, corruption and inspector raj in Punjab. He said the traders and businessmen were living in fear. How will business thrive in such an environment? On the contrary, the traders will want to limit their trade. He said that in Punjab there was a need for business to flourish so that youth could get employment. Therefore a safe environment free from crime and corruption would be created in Punjab. He asked the traders in amazement, what is the ‘jojo’ tax? Why don’t the police take action against the goons?” questioned Kejriwal.
Criticizing the Channi government, Kejriwal said it was easy to imitate the common man, but difficult to implement; because Chief Minister Charanjit Singh, after seeing the AAP government’s works, announced the abolition of inspector raj, participation of traders and provision of facilities to industries, but do not implement them. He alleged that the Channi government had neither good intentions nor good policy. Due to this about 2,700 hotels in Punjab were closed and thousands of industries moved out of Punjab.
Speaking on the occasion, AAP Punjab president and MP Bhagwant Mann said, “The established governments in the country consider traders, arhtiyas and industrialists as thieves, while they are the ones who pay the highest taxes. The businessman would gladly pay the tax to the honest government, because he knew that the benefit of this tax would go to him or his family in one form or another.” He said that the Arvind Kejriwal’s government had reduced taxes in Delhi, abolished ‘inspector raj’ and provided electricity, water and other necessities to the factories. Due to this, industry, trade and other businesses are thriving in Delhi today.
Criticizing the Modi government, Bhagwant Mann said, “The BJP calls our arhtiyas as thieves, intermediaries and several other things; but the arhtiyas are the service providers of the farmers. There has been an inseparable relation between the farmers and the arhtiyas for centuries. Even the arhtiyas arrange relationships of the sons and daughters of the farmers and these relationships prove to be the strongest. He also called the arhtiyas as unannounced CAs (Chartered Accountants) of the farmers.
Mann said that the Congress government of Punjab had no industrial policy, no trade policy and no education and health policy. He said that the country had fallen into a dark tunnel and in this 70-year-old dark tunnel; the Aam Aadmi Party was seen as a ray of light, which was establishing a pro-people political system. On anti-agriculture black laws, Bhagwant Mann said that if these anti-farmer and anti-agriculture laws were enacted, they would have a direct lethal effect on the traders, businessmen and industry as everything is linked to agriculture.
Meanwhile, Aman Arora termed the 2.25 lakh VAT notices issued to the traders as a ‘deadly attack’ on the business community. On the occasion, MLAs Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Saravjit Kaur Manuke, Prof Baljinder Kaur, Meet Hayer, Kulwant Singh Pandori, Principal Budh Ram, Manjit Singh Bilaspur, Amarjit Singh Sandoa, Jai Singh Rodi and party leaders Neel Garg, Gurjant Singh Sivia, Charanjit Singh Akanwali, Jagroop Singh Gill, Dr Vijay Singla, Master Jagsir Singh, Balkar Singh Sidhu, Sukhbir Singh Maisarkhana, Anil Thakur, Navdeep Singh Jida, Amrit Garg, among others were present.
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