Chandigarh, December 17, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today told the Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit to ask its high command why it had abandoned the core principles of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and violated coalition ‘dharma’ vis a vis the SAD instead of indulging in hate politics which would only vitiate peace and communal harmony in the State.
Expressing shock at the irresponsible statements of few Amritsar based BJP leaders who parroted lines as per the script handed over to them, SAD senior leader Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra said “the Punjab BJP seems to have taken up the Congress policy of divide and rule which can only have devastating repercussions in the State.
The SAD appeals to Punjabis to realize the dangerous game being played by Punjab BJP leaders who are ready to spoil the peace of the State. They are gearing up to make one brother (Sikh) fight against another (Hindu) solely to get a foothold after being overwhelmingly rejected by the people following the enactment of the three hated agricultural marketing Acts”.
Asking the local leaders to take their fight to the centre, Prof Chandumajra said “you need to ask your party leadership why it has abandoned the moderate policies of Atal Behari Vajpayee and forgotten to take everyone along with you.
Instead of spewing venom against the SAD you should ask the centre why it has taken an anti-farmer and anti-peasant line. Why is the new BJP toeing the line of the corporate sector? Why did it frame legislation without even consulting the stake holders and why it is bent on giving a ‘gift’ which farmers don’t want?”
Asking the Amritsar based leaders of the BJP to start thinking about the welfare of the country instead of polarizing Hindu and Sikhs into different camps in the same manner in which it polarized Hindus and Muslims against each other, Prof Chandumajra said “Punjab has passed through more than a decade of turmoil in the past. Don’t lay the foundation for another such spell”.
Speaking about the role of the SAD, Prof Chandumajra said the SAD had formed an alliance with the BJP for people welfare. “We are committed to welfare of farmers as well as poor and down trodden sections of society besides each the every community irrespective of caste and creed.
This is the reason SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal demanded that the CAA ambit should be widened to include Muslims in it. This is why the SAD asked the BJP high command to listen to the concerns of farmers before taking up the farm ordinances for legislation. It is the BJP which assured that all grievances would be addressed but instead of doing so it bull dozed the farm Bills through parliament”.
Finally the SAD leader asked the BJP leaders to tell Punjabis whether the BJP had systematically targeted its opponents as separatists and even invented epithets like “tukde tukde” gang for them? “You have pitted Hindus against Muslims. You have labeled peacefully protesting farmers as Khalistanis. Now you are pitting Hindus against Sikhs in Punjab.
The SAD President has only called a spade a spade. You should accept this reality and if you truly want the welfare of Punjabis you should take up cudgels against the central government instead of targeting the SAD President”, Prof Chandumajra added.
