Amarinder pays condolence visit to RSS man Gagneja's family

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today visited the family of RSS leader Brigadier (retd) Jagdish Gagneja who succumbed to injuries recently after being shot at by unidentified assailants in August, to pay his condolences.
Sharing his grief with the bereaved family, he said it was a great loss for everyone as Gagneja was not only a noble soul but an "outstanding and brave soldier" who had fought many battles for the country, including the Bangladesh war.
Besides, he had engaged himself in social service after his retirement from the army, he added.
Later, talking to reporters, Amarinder claimed that law and order had "totally collapsed" in Punjab, adding that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal must own responsibility for the situation.

He said Gagneja's was a "well planned and targeted" murder and even after one-and-a-half months since the incident, his assailants had not even been identified, let alone arrested.
Gagneja was shot at by unidentified assailants at Jalandhar on August 6. He succumbed to the injuries at a hospital in Ludhiana on Thursday. The Punjab government has handed over the probe into his killing to the CBI.

Amarinder said in a democracy, everyone was entitled to a political belief and ideology.
"We have political and ideological differences with the Akalis, the BJP and the RSS and we fight them ideologically and democratically. Killing someone because you do not agree with his views is unacceptable and must be condemned by one and all.

"Irrespective of which party or organisation Brigadier Gagneja belonged to, his assassination is a loss to the state and everyone should condemn it," the Congress leader said when asked to comment on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not visiting the RSS leader's family when he was at Jalandhar and that too, at a place not more than a kilometre from his house.
Amarinder said, even though he did not want to comment on Kejriwal's action as it was his "discretion", it certainly did reflect his "lack of sensitivity" as all the issues "should not be viewed in a partisan manner".

He alleged that the Badals had "lost all the authority" and it seemed to be a "free-for-all" in Punjab.
He claimed that not only did the police fail to solve Gagneja's murder case, they were still "clueless" about the killing of Namdhari Mata Chand Kaur and had failed to punish the culprits behind the murderous assault on Sant Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale.
"This is either a deliberate design or complete incompetence on part of the Akali government," Amrinder said, adding that there was a feeling of "fear and insecurity" among the people in the aftermath of such incidents.
He said Punjab had already paid a heavy price and it could not afford to slip back into those "dark days" (of militancy) once again.

"We will not let that happen", the Congress leader said, warning the Badal against their "attempts at polarising the people".