CHANDIGARH: Asserting that he was not scared of the Enforcement Department (ED) or anyone else, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday slammed all the Opposition parties in the state, saying that they were playing politics with the lives of the farmers to further their own interests.
He and the entire Congress was solidly with the farmers and the Centre must listen to them and accept their demands, said the Chief Minister. Lambasting all the key Opposition players, right from Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir and Harsimrat, to Arvind Kejriwal and Manohar Lal Khattar, Captain Amarinder said that with their flip-flops they were making a mockery of the fight of the farmers, who were sitting out in the cold on the roads to get their rightful due.
“For 13 years, I have been going to courts because of the cases initiated against me by the Badals, I am not bothered about ED. I can go to courts and fight for another 13 years,” he said, reacting to Harsimrat Badal’s charge that he was under the ED pressure. “All these Badals are alike, and they are all liars,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that in his meeting on Thursday, he had told Union Home Minister Amit Shah that the amendment Bills passed in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha were the solution to breaking the deadlock over the farmers’ issue as they were the essence of the state’s future. “I urged him to get the Bills approved by the President,” he said.
Taking on the Akalis the CM said in a live video statement on Facebook that the Badals had publicly done a U-turn on the issue. “I don’t know why Parkash Singh Badal got the Padma Vibhushan in the first place,” he quipped, reacting to Badal Senior’s decision to return the medal to the Government of India.
Noting that Gen Harbaksh Singh had got Padma Vibhushan for winning the 1965 war, Captain Amarinder asked “What war did Parkash Singh Badal fight or what sacrifice did he make for the community”. “Stop politicking on this… these theatrics might have worked 40 years ago but they won’t work now,” he added.
Lashing out at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly twisting his statement on national security, the Chief Minister said it was clearly made in reference to Pakistan and as home minister of Punjab, it was his duty to apprise the Union Home Minister of the dangers of the prolonged agitation.
“Kejriwal nu jhooth bolan di aadat hai, aur Khattar nu kuttan di (Kejriwal is in the habit of lying and Khattar is in the habit of thrashing),” said the CM, taking on his Haryana and Delhi counterparts amid the farmers’ protests.
Captain Amarinder asked the Delhi CM to first explain why his government had notified one of the Central farm laws. “When other Opposition-ruled states, including Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, have passed amendment bills to counter the Central laws, why did he not call a session of the Delhi Assembly to reject the latter?” the Punjab Chief Minister said. “Does Kejriwal not have villages around Delhi,” he asked.
Declaring that when he speaks for Punjab, he speaks from his heart, the Chief Minister said the Bills brought in by his government and passed in the Vidhan Sabha were in accordance with the Indian Constitution, as was done in Gujarat in 2015. All Punjab parties had supported his government initially and even went to meet the Governor with him but later, some did a U-turn for political gains, he said.