CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday announced that if his party forms the government in Punjab in 2027, it would end the scourge of gangsters and drug traffickers by declaring them as terrorists and dealing with them using the full force of the law.
Addressing a rally in Ferozepur Rural constituency as part of the party’s Punjab Bachao campaign, Badal said Punjabis were fed up of Delhi-based parties, did not want to experiment anymore and had decided to form a government solely of the SAD in the state.
Badal said that gangsters and drug lords were holding Punjab to ransom and the Aam Aadmi Party government and chief minister Bhagwant Mann had failed to rein in these anti-social elements. “I feel the time has come to bring in legislation to deal with this twin menace. Accordingly once a SAD government is formed, we will bring in legislation to deny bail to gangsters and drug lords besides seizing their properties. I advise them to leave Punjab or be ready to face complete eradication under the law," he said.
Asserting that the chief minister was even indulging in flip-flops on the sensitive issue of killing of two police personnel on the international border with Pakistan, Badal said, "First the government was clueless about the death of one ASI and a head constable at the Adhian check post in Gurdaspur. Then the chief minister lauded their supreme sacrifice and announced Rs 1 crore ex gratia grant to their families. Now he is claiming that the two officers could have died following a scuffle between themselves. This kind of misgovernance is symptomatic of the AAP government with the chief minister busy in Gujarat serving Arvind Kejriwal instead of the people of Punjab."
He also attacked the AAP government for the belated launch of the ‘Punjab Rasoi’ scheme after selling government land at throwaway prices. He said after not implementing this scheme for four years, the AAP government was using it as a desperate gambit to influence Punjabis in the run-up to the 2027 assembly elections. “Such gimmicks cannot save the AAP’s sinking ship,” he asserted. Badal also announced that the SAD was committed to removing all discriminations against government employees by the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party governments, including restoration of the old pension scheme for employees.
Speaking about farmers, Badal said tubewell connections would be given to all those who do not have one within a week of the formation of the next SAD government. He also announced that ‘pucca bundhs’ would be established on rivers to deal with floods, assured grant of land rights to those who had been denied this till now and free partition of joint ownership of land.