Chandigarh, April 19: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday lashed out at BJP’s Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya for insulting on a decorated dead police officer, and accused the hardliner of dragging the current nationalism discourse in the country to a new low.
In a hard-hitting reaction to the Sadhvi’s sickening and repulsive comment that it was her “curse” that led to Maharashtra police officer Hemant Karkare being killed while fighting the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008, the Chief Minister said: “That woman cannot be sane. No person in their sane mind can think or talk like that, and that too about a police officer who sacrificed his life for the nation.”
Captain Amarinder also tweeted his anger over Sadhvi’s atrocious comment. “Is she sane? Sadhvi Pragya has dragged patriotism to a new low by attacking decorated dead IPS officer #HemantKarkare who sacrificed himself to fight terrorism & here’s an official @BJP4India candidate insulting his memory! It’s an insult to our men in uniform & to every Indian.” – he tweeted.
Sadhvi Pragya has not just insulted a police officer but has shown disrespect to every man in uniform, said Captain Amarinder, adding that the Sadhvi’s remarks had exposed the true colours of the BJP, which had been claiming the `nationalist’ agenda as its key poll plank and projecting itself as the only protector of our `nationhood’.
‘IT EXPOSES BJP’S TRUE ANTI-NATIONALIST COLOURS AND REFLECTS PARTY’S DESTRUCTIVE AGENDA
The fact that the two BJP leaders present at the press conference where she made her remarks did not try to stop her or make amends in any way shows that the BJP’s `saffron agenda’ overrides every other agenda, including patriotism and nationalism, said the Chief Minister. He dismissed as `crap’ the party’s subsequent attempt to alienate itself from the controversial remarks by calling them the Sadhvi’s personal opinion. “Every BJP member, especially a candidate, only resonates the thinking and philosophy of the party. So the BJP cannot wriggle out of its responsibility in the matter by simply shrugging its shoulders as an afterthought,” he added.
After demolishing all the vital democratic institutions of the country during the five years of its total misrule, the BJP was now trying to destroy the very fabric of civilization by fielding such shamelessly prejudiced and divisive elements, Captain Amarinder said. “They have reduced this election to a mockery by bringing in criminals and dissensionists. If the BJP does not support the Sadhvi’s viewpoint then why is she still with the party?”
It was shameful that BJP leaders were, on the one hand, seizing credit for the patriotism of our armed forces, and on the other demeaning men in uniform, the Chief Minister said. “What kind of nationalism is this? Definitely not what our freedom-fighters sacrificed their lives for,” he added, appealing to the people of India to vote out these forces of hatred and divisiveness to save the nation’s Constitutional ethos and character.
“We cannot let these people destroy our country. We cannot let them get away with their destructive agenda,” he asserted, vowing to do everything in his power to counter their nefarious designs.
