Mandi Killianwali (Sri Muktsar Sahib), October 8: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday sounded the bugle for the Lok Sabha elections, with a call to the people to wipe out the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) from both, the state and the national politics by voting the Congress to power in all the 13 seats in Punjab.
Addressing a record-breaking rally in Lambi, the Chief Minister urged the people to ensure that a democratic government is formed in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Punjab Congress had informed the party high command that they did not want or need any alliance in the state, he said, exhorting the people to vote the party to power with a sweeping mandate.
The Chief Minister launched Mission13 for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, declaring that the party would win all the 13 parliamentary seats in the state, including the Bathinda and Lambi segments. He released Mission13 poster of the PPCC to mark the launch of the party’s LS campaign.
Captain Amarinder Singh launched a scathing attack on the Badals from their home ground, accusing them of blatantly lying on the Bargari sacrilege case and the subsequent incidents of police firing of 2015, as well destroying the lives of youth and farmers by failing to do anything on the issues of drugs and farm debts.
The Chief Minister lashed out at Parkash Singh Badal for his falsehood on the police firing incidents. The former CM claimed to have slept through the entire episodes, though the then DGP had already exposed the lie before the Justice (Retd) Ranjit Singh Commission, said Captain Amarinder Singh. How could the Chief Minister of the state not know about such an important development, Captain Amarinder Singh asked, pointing out that the DGP had spoken to Badal at 2 a.m. that morning and had also spoken with the IG 22 times.
If, despite this, Badal did not know about the incident he should be ashamed, said the Chief Minister, adding that it was also shameful that the Badal father-son duo did not know about the destruction of our future generations by the drugs that were being pushed into the state from across the border, from Pakistan. Captain Amarinder Singh squarely blamed the Badals for the drug related deaths in the state, and for failing to save the farmers from their debt burdens, which was left to his government to waive off despite the economic crisis facing it.
Nailing the Akali lies and failures on all counts, including sacrilege and false cases, drugs, industry, farmers, economy, employment etc, Captain Amarinder Singh countered the disinformation campaign run by Badal with an aggressive exposé of the SAD-BJP failures during their 10-year misrule. Contrasting their failures with the Congress government’s successes of the past 18 months, the Chief Minister flayed Badal for failing to implement the report of their own Zora Commission formed to probe the sacrilege and firing cases. Asserting that while he would not indulge in political vendetta against the Badals or anyone else, Captain Amarinder Singh declared that anyone found guilty by the SIT would be punished as per the law and nobody would be spared. The Badals would have to pay for all their sins, including the sacrilege and false cases as well the deaths of youth due to drugs and of the farmers, warned Captain Amarinder Singh.
Charging SAD-BJP with not taking any action on the sensitive Bargari, Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura incidents, Captain Amarinder Singh said his government had established the Justice (Retd) Ranjit Singh Commission to expose the truth and had initiated the legal process to take action against the guilty. Be-adbi will not be tolerated at any cost, the Chief Minister warned, making it clear that his government would continue to crack down against sacrilege to maintain communal harmony and peace in the state at all costs.
The Chief Minister hailed the enthusiasm and the passion of the lakhs of people who had turned up for the rally, pointing out that Parkash Singh Badal could not muster even 30000 people for his Patiala rally despite begging people in villages to attend. The Badals had clearly lost space in the hearts of the people, despite fighting tooth and nail, he asserted.
Captain Amarinder Singh promised to fulfull all the demands of the people of Lambi, which Parkash Singh Badal had failed to do, inspite of being elected from the constituency five times. He said he could not visit Lambi earlier as he had been voted to power to work for the development of the entire state, which he was engaged in doing.
The Chief Minister also came down heavily on the Akalis for the political victimization unleashed during their rule, saying that misuse of power was the hallmark of their government, as evident in the false cases registered by them. Pointing to the establishment of Justice (Retd) Mehtab Singh Commission by his government, Captain Amarinder Singh said 4451 complaints of false cases had so far been received, of which Commission recommended cancellation of 355 cases. Work was in progress on the same, he added.
Captain Amarinder Singh flayed the erstwhile SAD-BJP government for failing to rescue the farmers from their debt burdens, pointing out that his government had launched debt relief scheme for crop loans up to Rs 2 lakhs for 10.25 lakh farmers, of which 337214 had so far been covered with Rs 2179 crore. All the 10.5 lakh marginal and small farmers would be covered under the farm debt waiver scheme by the end of this year, he promised.
This, he said, was in addition to the other farmer welfare measures taken by his government, leading to 36% increase in procurement of foodgrains in 2017 over the previous season. With hassle-free procurement had timely payments, more than Rs 30,000 crore extra had been paid to the farmers in the last 18 months, he added.
The Akalis had ruined the State’s economy with their self-seeking economic & financial agenda through monopolization of transport, media, sand and gravel businesses, said the Chief Minister. Not only had his government ended the various mafias but had put the debt-stressed state back on the path to economic revival with increased industrial investments and production during last 18 months, he noted.
On the issue of drugs, Captain Amarinder Singh pointed out that the Akalis had even denied existence of drugs in Punjab and had ruined an entire generation. His government, on the other hand, had gone all out against drugs and had established STF to fight the menace and save the future generations. On the occasion, the Chief Minister also formally launched a Poster and Banner campaign of the Bathinda Police to create awareness among the people about the menace of drugs.
Lashing out at the Akalis over the large-scale unemployment in the state, the Chief Minister cited his government’s ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgaar and Karobaar’ scheme to point out that 3,93,320 youth have been provided jobs /self-employment with 800 jobs a day during last 18 months.
The Chief Minister also cited other achievements of his government in the past 18 months, including the Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojna (MGSVY), timely payment of enhanced pension, universal health cover, development and repair of link roads, etc.
Addressing the rally, Minister of Forests and Social Welfare Sadhu Singh Dharamsot lashed out at the Badal father-son duo, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia for looting Punjab for 10 years with their plethora of mafias, even pocketing the money send by the erstwhile UPA government for the farmers. The people of Punjab had given them a befitting reply in 2017, he said, asserted that the Badals will see their entire family pay for the crimes committed against Sri Guru Granth Sahib. The name of the Badals would be wiped out from Punjab, he added.
Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said the public response to the rally was a clear sign of the demolition of the Badals’ fiefdom. Condemning the Akalis for destroying the future generations of the state, he vowed that the Captain Amarinder Singh government will build a new Punjab for the people of the state. Referring to the Bargari sacrilege case and the subsequent incidents of police firing, he said the Chief Minister had shown, through the report of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, that nobody would be spared for the crime, howsoever senior he may be in the political hierarchy of the state. The Badals and other Akali leaders would definitely get caught by the law for their sins, he added.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Sunil Jakhar hit out at Parkash Singh Badal for posing a serious threat to the communal harmony of the state with his petty thinking, which was in sharp contrast to his tall claims of being ready to sacrifice his family for protecting the peace of Punjab. He lashed out at the Badals for hiding out in their bungalows in Chandigarh when the Sikh Pant was being exposed to blasphemous attacks. He accused Parkash Singh Badal of putting all his might into saving Sukhbir, which he described as a compulsion of Badal Senior. Badal had put the Panth under threat to save his son, he said, adding that the fact was that it was not the Panth but the Badal family which was facing threat on account of their various sins. Jakhar appealed to the people to break the monopoly of the Badals on SGPC to end the political exploitation of religion unleashed by them. The Narendra Modi government e also came under attack from Jakhar, who flayed the Centre over the escalating prices of diesel and other essentials, which was further breaking the backbone of the common man, particularly the farmers.
Gidderbaha MLA Amarinder Singh Raja Warring took on Badal for failing to take action against those responsible for the sacrilege cases in the state. Unlike Badal, Captain Amarinder Singh had always taken up the mantle of protecting the interests of the Sikhs, he added. Anybody who has done wrong with the people of Punjab, be it Sukhbir Singh Badal or Bikram Singh Majithia, will not be spared, he declared. This rally, said Warring, would be the death knell of the Akalis.
AICC National Secretary Harish Chaudhary congratulated the people of Lambi for breaking the records of all previous rallies with this rally. He congratulated the Captain Amarinder Singh led government for the positive change brought into the state in the past 18 months. He assured the people that the next three years would see the state scale new heights of progress under Captain Amarinder Singh.
Earlier, Power Minister Power Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar welcomed the Chief Minister at the rally venue. A video showing the achievements of the Captain Amarinder Singh government was also shown to the people.
Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included; Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Revenue Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Food Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora, Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Animal Husbandry Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, Deputy Speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, Members Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu, Gurjit Singh Aujla, Chairman Markfed Amarjit Singh Samra, Mandi Board Chairman Lal Singh. A large number of Congress MPs and MLAs also attended the rally.
