CHANDIGARH: With nine months remaining for the Assembly polls in both Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, a war of words erupted between Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday over the latter’s announcement of Malerkotla town as the 23rd district of Punjab. Amarinder had on Friday, on the occasion of Eid, announced that Malerkotla, Punjab’s only Muslim-majority town, will be declared a separate district.
Adityanath on Saturday said any kind of discrimination based on ideology or religion is against the fundamental spirit of the Constitution. “Any distinction on the basis of belief and religion is contrary to the basic spirit of the Constitution of India. Presently, the formation of Malerkotla (Punjab) is a reflection of the divisive policy of the Congress,” Adityanath tweeted.
Amarinder responded saying the Yogi was trying to incite communal hatred in Punjab.“What does he (Yogi Adityanath) know of Punjab’s ethos or the history of Malerkotla, whose relationship with Sikhism and its Gurus was known to every Punjabi? And what does he understand of the Indian Constitution, which is being brazenly trampled every day by his own government in UP?” the Punjab chief minister asked.
“The whole world knows of the communally divisive policies of the BJP, and particularly the Yogi Adityanath government in UP,” Amarinder later said in a statement. Amarinder asked Adityanath to focus on the Covid situation in his own state.