CHANDIGARH: After Congress and AAP, radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa has started targeting the ruling SAD in Punjab in connnection with the controversy over Udta Punjab.
Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said, “Udta Punjab is about the rising drug problem in Punjab. It’s a harsh reality and the situation has reached alarming proportions. Akalis’ approach towards the drug abuse is like a proverb that says a pigeon closes eyes on seeing a cat, thinking she doesn’t exist.”
The negative attitude of the state government and the Centre tells that they had in a way admitted their fault and complicity in the worsening the drug problem, he said.
Stating that the SAD, Congress and AAP were the chips of the same block, he said Punjab was not a drug-free state during former CM Amrinder Singh’s rule either. “The root cause of the menace is the corrupt political system and the lack of determination to tackle it,’’ he said.
AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said the censoring of the film was an attack on freedom of speech. By indulging in such an act, the state government can’t hide the reality of Punjab that it has pushed the state into a drug capital during its nine-year rule.’’
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder slammed the censor board for its ruling that all references to Punjab in Udta Punjab should be removed. “It is like taking the soul out of the film’s body”, he said. Meanwhile, SAD MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said, “This is yet another bid to defame Punjabis by calling them drug addicts.’’