CHANDIGARH: Describing Lambi as his ‘karambhoomi’ from where he would teach the Badals a lesson for the savagery and atrocities they had unleashed on the people of Punjab over the past ten years, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday said he would get all cases of religious sacrilege thoroughly investigated and punish the Badals if found guilty.
Addressing a rally at Chamkaur Sahib, where he visited the historic Gurudwara to seek blessings before embarking on day two of his campaign trail, Amarinder said while Patiala was his `janambhoomi’ to which he owed his emotional roots, he had chosen Lambi as his `karambhoomi’ since he owed it to the people of Punjab to teach the Badals a lesson for all their crimes and misdeeds.
The Badals have spent the past ten years bolstering their family interests, with all the key businesses in the State owned by them and the Akali-patronised mafia ruling Punjab, said Amarinder, asking chief minister Parkash Singh Badal where he would take all the wealth he had accumulated. “Will you take it with you when you leave this world?” he asked, taking a dig at the Badals over the multi-crore assets they had built during their rule of Punjab.
Amarinder lashed out at the Badal-led SAD-BJP government for failing to protect the religious fabric of Punjab, pointing out that they had even failed to complete the memorial started by the Congress in “this historic land where Bade Sahibzade sacrificed his life along with forty others.” The Badals have only been interested in building hotels to boost their personal interests, he added, in an apparent reference to Sukhbir Badal’s Sukhvilas.
Amarinder cited the various incidents of sacrilege that had been taking place in Punjab in recent months to expose the ‘maari soch’ of the Badals, who were out to divide and polarize the state on communal lines. “I will get all cases of sacrilege investigated and if they (Badals) are found guilty I will throw them into jail,” he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leader Arvind Kejriwal also came in for heavy criticism from Amarinder for their attempts to unleash anarchy in the state to promote their personal interests at the cost of the interests of the Punjabis.
Taking a snipe at Kejriwal’s fumbling attempts to project himself as a Sikh Punjabi by trying to wear a turban during his public meetings and rallies, Amarinder warned the people against being taken in by his frivolous gimmicks.
“He’s a liar out to snatch power in Punjab and become the chief minister of the State,” said Amarinder, adding that the thousands of outsiders he was bringing into Punjab for the elections would take no time to run away after the polls. AAP is a party with no experience and no connect with Punjab, he said, urging the people not to be swayed by the outsider’s false promises.
Earlier, welcoming the PPCC chief, the Congress candidate from Chamkaur Sahib, Charanjit Singh Channi, pointed to the total lack of development in the area to show how the Badals had been sacrificing the interests of the people to promote their own interests.