New Delhi: Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that under Mr Rahul Gandhi’s leadership the Congress was trying to create the same environment in Punjab that it suffered during the years of militancy.
Rejecting the charge that Congress was supporting radical forces, Capt. Amarinder Singh said Mr Badal was trying to shift the blame onto the Congress to hide his failures. “We in Congress do not need any lessons on patriotism and nationalism from someone like Sukhbir Badal whose father, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, still takes pride in having burnt copies of the Constitution during the Khalistan movement,” he said.
Describing the Punjab situation as “controlled destablisation by the ruling Akalis which has gone out of control,” he said the Badals were trying to divert public attention after sensing growing disenchantment with the Akali regime.
Referring to the “Sarbat Khalsa”, a religious congregation of the Sikhs, at Amritsar recently, Capt. Singh said the Congress had nothing to do with it and that the two Congress leaders had been present there only in their personal capacities to seek a solution to recent acts of sacrilege in their areas.
The presence of a huge number of people there was an “expression of anger” against the Badal government, and not to support Khalistan as being projected by Badal and Khalistan protagonist Simranjit Singh Mann together, he said.
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