AHMEDABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, on Sunday, said, "Anyone who used the Sikh holy book as a shield at the police station cannot be called a waris (heir) of Punjab." He also claimed that Khalistani supporters were receiving funds from Pakistan and other countries.
The ongoing turmoil in the state is being caused by Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh and his supporters' recent activities, he added.
On the challenging law and order situation in Amritsar on February 23, Bhagwant Mann stated that he will not allow peace in Punjab to be disturbed at any cost.
He said, “they mobilised a crowd under the cover of Shri Guru Granth Sahib. Everyone respects Guru Granth Sahib. Dharna protest is a democratic right. But using Shri Guru Granth Sahib as a shield is not. If the police did not say anything to you out of respect for Guru Granth Sahib, you claim that you won. it's not right; To prevent this from happening again, I would like religious scholars to advise everyone not to disguise themselves as such Guru Granth Sahib.”
After attending a mass wedding function, Panjab CM Bhagwant Mann was addressing a press conference in Bhavnagar city of Gujarat on Sunday.
Replying to a question about what he thought about pro-Khalistan slogans being raised in the state following Singh's incident, he said "Do you believe 1,000 people (who were seen shouting pro-Khalistan slogans) represent all of Punjab? Come to Punjab and see for yourself who is yelling such slogans. Only a handful of persons are behind this and they run their shops through funding from Pakistan and other foreign countries."
"Despite the fact that Rajasthan has a much larger border with Pakistan, why do drones (sent from Pakistan) land in Punjab rather than Rajasthan? Because their (Khalistani element's) masters are in Pakistan and want to disrupt Punjab. But we will not allow them to succeed," the CM stated.
Mann also termed the February 23 incident as minor and downplayed Singh's alleged threat of more violence in the coming days. "This is khayali pulao (daydreaming). Punjab has seen such black days in the past. The Punjab Police are capable of handling them and we will never allow anyone to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere," he said.
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Mann continued, "Several industries, including Tata Steel and companies from other countries, were arriving thanks to Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. These industries might not have arrived in Punjab today if the situation had been that awful in Punjab. Even NRIs are returning, and some who had intended to relocate abroad have since changed their minds. After six to seven months, Punjab will once more shine."
The AAP leader also criticized the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre over the questioning of Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Delhi excise police case.
"Raj Bhavans in the country are turning into BJP headquarters and governors are acting like BJP's star campaigners. In a democracy, elected persons take decisions, not the selected ones. By arresting Satyendra Jain, these people want to shut down hospitals, and by imprisoning Manish Sisodia these people want to shut down schools but AAP knows how to fight and we are not afraid of the CBI or ED," he said.