Gurdaspur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attacked the Congress over the 1984-anti Sikh riots, alleging that while it allowed the “massacre of Sikhs” and its governments at the Centre protected the rioters, he ensured the guilty were punished.
Canvassing for BJP Lok Sabha poll candidates in Punjab, he also alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann cannot take any decision on his own and had to go to the Tihar Jail in Delhi to take orders.
“‘Delhi ke darbari’ are running Punjab. The Punjab CM cannot take any decision on his own. His ‘maalik’ went to jail and the Punjab government started shutting down,” the prime minister said, referring to the arrest and incarceration of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejrwal in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Kejriwal, whose AAP is in power in Punjab, was released after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail on May 10. He has to surrender on June 2.
“To take new orders and run the government, the CM (Mann) had to go to the Tihar jail” and “he had to present his report card to him (Kejriwal)”, Modi said at a rally here to seek support for BJP candidates Dinesh Babbu (Gurdaspur), Taranjit Singh Sandhu (Amritsar) and Anita Som Parkash (Hoshiarpur).
He said after June 1, “kattar bhrahistachari (the corrupt Kejriwal)” will again go to jail.
“Will the Punjab government again be run from jail. Do you want such a government?” he asked the gathering and asserted that the state’s development was his priority.
Targeting the Congress and the INDIA bloc, of which the party is a member, Modi said nobody knows the real face of this alliance better than Punjab.
He said it was the same alliance that inflicted the “maximum wounds” on Punjab. After India’s freedom, it gave the wound of Partition and then the wound of instability for self interest and a long period of unrest, the prime minister said.
“They fuelled separatism in Punjab. Then they got the massacre of Sikhs done in Delhi. Till the time, the Congress remained in power at the Centre, it used to protect the rioters,” he said and added that “it was Modi who got files of the anti-Sikh riots opened.”
“It was Modi who ensured punishment to the guilty,” the prime minister said and added that the Congress and the “jharoowali party” — referring to the AAP — have a problem about this. “Therefore, they abuse Modi day and night,” he said.
Referring to the role of Sikhs in the Ram temple movement, Modi said the first person to fight for building the Ram mandir was a Sikh. “He fought for the Ram temple. And, when the consecration ceremony took place (in January), his descendants attended the event,” he said.
Modi said when Amarinder Singh headed the Congress government in Punjab, the party wanted to run his government through “remote control”.
“But Captain Amarinder Singh refused to obey the orders from ‘Delhi ke shehzade’ (Rahul Gandhi),” he said.
Singh was a patriot and he gave priority to national security because Punjab is a border state, and refused to take the “anti-national orders”, Modi said.
“What was the result? ‘Congress ke shahi parivar (the first family of the party)’ and the ‘shehzade’ removed him (Singh) from the post of Punjab chief minister,” he said.
Singh was unceremoniously removed from the CM post by the Congress in 2021. He later quit the party and joined the BJP.
Attacking the AAP, Modi said, “Unfortunately, today also an attempt is being made to run (the Punjab government) through remote control.”
Terming the INDIA bloc, of which the AAP is also a member, as the “biggest threat” to the country’s national security, Modi said it is talking about enforcing Article 370 again.
“They again want terrorism in Kashmir. They want to hand over Kashmir to separatists. They will again send the message of friendship to Pakistan. And, Pakistan will carry out bomb blasts, and terror attacks will take place in the country,” he said.
Slamming the Congress, Modi said its problem is that it does not have “aastha (faith) in Bharat”.
“The shehzada goes overseas and defames the country. He says ‘Bharat toh rashtra he nahi hai’. That is why they want to change the nation’s identity,” he said.
Prime Minister Modi also lashed out at the Congress for rejecting the invitation for the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. INDIA bloc leaders are dubbing the Ram temple as “apavitra (impure)” and “bekar (useless)”, he said.
Alleging that the Congress and the AAP are putting Punjab’s future at stake, Modi said drug menace is growing, criminals are getting the patronage of the state government, development is at a standstill and farmers are worried.
Modi said that the 2024 election is an election of giving leadership to the country. On one side there is the BJP and the NDA that have a clear vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’ and on the other is the INDIA bloc that is extremely “communal, casteist and nepotist”, he said.
Modi also said that the two INDIA bloc parties are trying different ways to fool people. “They show themselves as friends in Delhi, while abuse each other in Punjab,” he said.
The Congress and the AAP are contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi in an alliance. In Punjab they are fighting the elections separately.
“People have understood that these two shops have one shutter,” Modi said.
Recalling the late Gurdaspur MP and actor Vinod Khanna, the prime minister said he was his very good friend. “We worked together for a long time. He (Khanna) was always attached to the ground,” Modi said.
