Chandigarh, January 5: Deriding the Prime Minister as a master of deceit and disinformation, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday challenged Narendra Modi to show even one instance of a promise fulfilled by his government in the past five years, which had witnessed India plunge into utter ruin and devastation under his anti-people and divisive policies.
Taking Modi head-on over the series of brazen lies he had unleashed from the dais in Gurdaspur yesterday, Captain Amarinder said the `jumlebaaz’ Prime Minister had brought the nation to its nadir with his deceptions and fabrications, and was staring at his moment of judgement at the hands of the people, who were set to throw him out of power for good.
Disputing every single statement made by Modi in Gurdaspur, the Chief Minister said the Prime Minister had stooped to abominable levels in a desperate bid to mislead the people in the face of his imminent defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Modi had once again lied on every issue, from the 1984 riots and Kartarpur Corridor to the farm debt waiver, declared Captain Amarinder, adding that the Prime Minister was talking nonsense to hide the all-round failure of his own government in the past 5 years.
The Chief Minister minced no words in taking on Modi over the 1984 riots issue, questioning the latter’s studious silence on the BJP/RSS workers named in the Tilak Marg Police Station FIR related to the worst violence perpetrated against the Sikhs, while trying desperately to drag the Gandhi family into the matter even though no fingers had been pointed at them.
“And what about the 2002 riots in Gujarat which happened right under your nose and in which your own party members were squarely blamed and named”, Captain Amarinder asked of Modi, demanding to know why the Prime Minister continued to remain silent on the issue.
Captain Amarinder also lambasted the Prime Minister for trying to seize credit for the Kartarpur Corridor, which the Congress had been actively pursuing since the days of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, right down to Dr. Manmohan Singh. He himself had been taking up the issue with Pakistan for years, said the Chief Minister, asking Modi to reveal what he had done to get the project going.
“You have not even given a single paisa so far for the celebration of the 550th Parkash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji despite our repeated pleas and request, and yet claim to be the guardians of the Sikhs and their religion”, asserted the Chief Minister, pinning Modi down on the issue.
The Chief Minister further lashed out at Modi for accusing the Congress of handing over Kartarpur to Pakistan, calling upon the Prime Minister to get his history right before shooting through his mouth. The Radcliff Line for the partition of Punjab and Bengal was drawn by the British, which every Indian worth his name would know, said Captain Amarinder, in a snide to the Prime Minister.
The Congress government in Punjab had fulfilled more promises in 21 months than the Modi government at the Centre had done in five years, said Captain Amarinder, trashing every single allegation made by the Prime Minister on the failure of the state government to implement its election promises.
“Despite the horrendous fiscal mess your Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), had left behind for us, we have managed to waive off Rs 3,417 crores of crop loans of 4,14,275 farmers in just one year. Another 3 lakh farmers would be given the crop loan waiver to the tune of about Rs 4000 crore very soon. Did you even give one paisa to support us in helping out the farmers?” asked the Chief Minister. “And where is the Swaminathan report, which you had promised to implement,” Captain Amarinder further asked Modi.
Condemning the the Akali-BJP combine for cheating the people of Punjab by burdening them with an additional Rs. 31,000 crore on food account just a week before relinquishing office, the Chief Minister demanded to know from Modi why the latter was not resolving the issue despite the state government’s repeated submissions.
While the Punjab government had implemented most of its poll promises, including jobs for youth, drugs elimination, industrial development, apart from farm debt waiver, in less than 2 years, the Modi government had not delivered on an even an iota of its promises, observed the Chief Minister, questioning the Prime Minister on his promises for jobs for the youth, doubling of farm income, women’s reservation, among other things.
Far from fulfilling these promises, the Modi government had plunged India into a deep financial crisis, with prices of essentials escalating out of control, Captain Amarinder said, adding that corruption had peaked with the Rafale deal just one instance of how the incumbent central government was helping a handful of business houses make money at the cost of the poor masses.
One wonders with what face Modi intends to go back to the people of India to seek re-election a few weeks from now, quipped Captain Amarinder, dubbing the Prime Minister as the worst leader India had ever had since independence.
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