Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday called upon all political parties in the state to stop fighting among themselves and instead wage a united fight against the Centre’s move on increasing the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force to 50 km from the International Border. He said that the Centre was trying to turn Punjab into a Union Territory through the back door by handing it over to the Central security force like the BSF.
He said, “This move will further weaken the already endangered federal structure of the country and will reduce the state government to the status of a municipality. This will be a severe blow to the pride and dignity of Punjabis.”
“If we don’t stop our fights for petty stakes, the Centre will merrily take advantage of our weaknesses. Tomorrow, we will all repent, having no powers left to solve the problems of the people. There will be nothing left then.”
Badal said that it was “very unfortunate” that the Centre has been usurping the rights of the states even on subjects that are on the States List in the Constitution. He said that the Union government had first legislated three laws on agriculture which is a state subject. Now, with this move on BSF deployment, they have done the same encroachment on another state subject, law and order.
Badal appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by saying, “get both these encroachments rescinded by revoking the three laws on agriculture and withdrawing the orders on BSF deployment.” He said there was also strong ground to believe that the Union government might be preparing to rob the state of its legitimate right on its river waters. “They might be conspiring to use this drastic new step to crush the farmers’ movement by blocking it at the farmers doorsteps in Punjab,” he added.
The former Chief Minister, who is also the patron in chief of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) said that his party would not bother about prestige and would gladly join or follow any other party willing to lead the fight. The SAD does not want any political limelight and would humbly cooperate with all other parties in a collective endeavour to safeguard Punjab’s interests, he added. “In fact, safeguarding Punjab’s interests is in the best overall interest of the country as we are the sword arm of the nation,” Badal said.
Describing the BSF move as dangerous, Badal said that this would mark a return to the period when Punjab was declared a disturbed area. “By giving sweeping powers to the BSF, the Centre has rendered Punjab Police totally irrelevant. I am afraid we are back to the era of midnight knocks and searches of homes by security forces without valid orders or prior notice, and without any platform to seek relief as people can no longer turn to local leaders or officers for the redress of your grievances,” he said.
It must be mentioned here that the 50 km move is a standard that the Centre has implemented in the border states, and not exclusively in Punjab.