Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that some forces are trying to push the state into "turbulent times" during militancy by vitiating its peaceful atmosphere and urged people to not fall prey to their "divisive agenda."
The five-time Chief Minister also launched a scathing attack on senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh, calling him a "chronic turncoat" for "frequently shifting his loyalty from one party to another throughout his entire political career."
Addressing the gathering during Sangat Darshan programme at Khadoor Sahib, Goindwal Sahib, Bharowal and Fatehabad villages in Khadoor Sahib Assembly segment here today, Badal said that Punjab had suffered a major setback during black days of militancy.
"But due to the massive efforts of the SAD-BJP alliance government, the state was put on the path of high growth trajectory," he said.
"Unfortunately some forces who are not for the development of the state were again trying to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of Punjab," he said.
The Chief Minister urged the people of state to not fall prey to "divisive agenda of such forces and foil their nefarious designs".
He said that public support was the basic necessity to promote the ethos of communal harmony, peace and amity in the state.
"I assure you that with your pro-active support and fulsome cooperation, we will not allow any force to push our state again into turbulent times," Badal said.
Punjab has been rocked by series of incidents of sacrilege recently.
Describing Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar Amarinder Singh as a "chronic turncoat", the Chief Minister said that people of state could hardly believe his (Amarinder Singh) credentials of a strong-willed politician "as he had frequently shifted his loyalty from one party to another throughout his entire political career".
"How anyone could rely on Amarinder Singh?" he questioned.
He said Amarinder Singh once a sworn Akali was now "desperately flexing muscles to take over as the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC)".
Launching a frontal attack on the Congress for "betraying"
Punjab and Punjabis, Badal alleged that Amarinder was the "prime conspirator", along with the then Congress high-command and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in the SYL canal issue.
Gandhi had performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the canal at Kapoori village in 1982.
On the contrary, he claimed that the Akali Dal, from day one, had vehemently opposed the construction of the canal by taking out statewide morchas, while the Congress was busy in "merry-making".
The chief minister said that no true Punjabi could ever forgive the Congress for its "sins" such as Operation Blue Star and the killing of innocent Sikhs during the 1984 genocide.
He alleged that the Congress had inflicted a severe blow to Punjabis by depriving them of their capital, legitimate share in river waters and even Punjabi-speaking areas.
Badal claimed that the "high-handedness" of the Congress as regards Punjab had even surpassed the Mughal regime and the British Raj in terms of brutality as the "anti-Punjab" party had irrelevantly meddled not only in the social, economic and political matters, but even in the state's religious issues.
He claimed that the SAD was the true representative body of the Punjabi community, especially the Sikhs, the world over and it has always stood by the poorer sections, farmers, traders and the youth, adding that Punjab's welfare was the "primary mission" of the party.
Badal exhorted the Akali cadre to work with "full zeal" and not to rest until the target of victory in the upcoming state Assembly polls was achieved and asked them to "boot out" Congress and AAP from the state.
Taking potshots at the Congress, he said it was rather unfortunate that Amarinder, who "spent his entire life playing petty politics in Punjab", now had to learn the nitty-gritties of politics from an outsider, PK (poll strategist Prashant Kishor), by paying him Rs 20 crore.
On the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal claimed that Amarinder was not even aware if the Congress high-command would make him the chief minister if the party won the Punjab polls.
He alleged that the state Congress chief would go to jail once the court verdict on his hawala transactions was out.
Branding the Congress, especially the Gandhi family, as "anti-Punjab", Sukhbir exhorted the people to root the party out of the state.
Castigating the AAP, he said it too deserved to be "booted out" of Punjab as it did not care for the religious sentiments of the people.
Sukhbir alleged that the AAP was only "hankering" to capture power in the state and claimed that the party would bite the dust in the upcoming polls.
He claimed that most of the AAP leaders were tainted and ignorant of Sikh ethos and culture.
