Cong trying to push Pb back into black days of militancy: CM

Accusing Congress of trying to push Punjab back into the black days of militancy, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today made a scathing attack on the party and Amarinder Singh as he exhorted people of the state to become "ambassadors of peace and progress".
Addressing SAD-BJP's fourth 'Sadbhavana rally' here, Badal urged the citizens to take pledge for making Punjab a "peaceful and prosperous" state saying that some forces were hell bent upon pushing the state back into the black days.
"We are organising these Sadbhavana rallies not for any political purpose but for promoting ethos of peace and communal harmony," he said, adding that peace and harmony were the basic ingredients of progress and prosperity.

Describing the sacrilege incidents in the state as "unfortunate", he said they had bruised the psyche of every human being in general and that of Sikhs in particular.
Recalling the times of militancy, Badal said more than 21,000 innocent people lost their lives during those difficult times and Punjabis had to pay a heavy price as the state lagged behind in development due to it.
Attacking Congress and its state chief Amarinder Singh, Badal alleged that the party and separatist leaders were hand in glove with each other, and both had the single point agenda to divide Punjab on sectarian lines.

Continuing his tirade against Amarinder, the Chief

Minister said the Congress leader had shown grave irresponsibility by alleging that it was a handiwork of state government to distract public attention.
Taking a dig at Amarinder, Badal said the "most powerful leader" of Congress was very weak in front of Shiromani Akali Dal as we have trounced him badly in two successive polls.
"We are well aware of the Captain and his politics which is totally a misfit in democracy. Captain still has an autocratic mindset and his announcement regarding coronation ceremony was a reflection of it. In democracies, party presidents assume office and coronation was totally unheard and irrelevant," he said.

Reacting to claims made by Amarinder regarding fall in SAD's popularity, Badal dared him to attend a Sadbhavana rally in disguise to see the upbeat mood of the crowd.
"Congress has realised that it is too weak to counter the popularity of SAD due to which it is now resorting to forming grand alliance," he said, claiming that such a strategy will not work in Punjab as people of the state strongly backed the SAD-BJP alliance for its development oriented policies.
The Chief Minister further alleged that the Congress governments at the Centre had deliberately denied the state of Punjabi speaking areas, its capital Chandigarh and even its legitimate share in river waters.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said anti-Punjab and anti-national forces had no religion but only one goal which was to destabilize the state.
"These elements having religious communalism as their sole agenda and have ruined countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Iran. These dark forces had indulged in the very unfortunate incidents of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji besides attacking the most sacred institutions of Sikhism -- Sri Akal Takht Sahib, SGPC and violating the sanctity of Sarbat Khalsa," he said, adding that CBI investigation into the sacrilege cases will bring out the truth.

Criticizing Congress, he said the party had aligned with extremist forces only for the sake of votebank politics.
Attacking Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, he alleged that this "prince of anti-Punjab Gandhi family" was now shedding crocodile tears over the plight of people but his hidden agenda was to disturb communal harmony of the state.