Opposition parties flay CM Bhagwant Mann over unrest in Punjab

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Opposition parties on Saturday were embroiled in a war of words over the ‘prevailing’ situation in the State.

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Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday accused the Opposition parties of pursuing divisive politics, even as the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP hit back at the government.

Mr. Mann said the “dream of Opposition parties to get political dividends by fanning communal sentiments will never succeed” in a statement, adding he was having information of every moment as they were keeping a strict vigil over everything unfolding in the State.

“It is shameful that in dearth of any issue against the State government, these political parties are stooping too low by indulging in such cheap tantrums. The Opposition is playing with fire by trying to achieve the political benefits by fanning communal sentiments in the State,” Mr. Mann alleged, adding “..the nefarious designs of these parties will never succeed.”

Living in fear

Hitting out at the Chef Minister, Punjab’s Leader of the Opposition, Congress’s Partap Singh Bajwa blamed the State government for its utter failure to rein in the communal forces, giving them an absolutely free hand to vitiate the hard-earned peace of the State.

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Mr. Bajwa recalled the incident that occurred on February 23 in Ajnala when a mob armed with all sorts of weapons attacked the police station in which six police personnel sustained head injuries including one officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police.

“Till date no case or an FIR has been registered against the persons who attacked the police personnel...If the Bhagwant Mann government actually wanted to enhance the morale of the Punjab Police personnel, then at least a case must have been registered against those who attacked the police officers and the station,” he said.

On February 23, a mob of a few hundred loaded with weapons led by Amritpal Singh, a pro-Khalistan (sovereign State for Sikhs) propagator and a self-styled Sikh preacher stormed into the police station in Punjab’s Ajnala town. As many as six police personnel were injured in the incident. Interestingly, the police so far have not registered any FIR in the matter.

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said the AAP government should immediately take appropriate action. He alleged that the people of Punjab did not trust the government, which was being run from Delhi.

BJP State president Ashwani Sharma said that in the past last eleven months since the AAP came to power in Punjab, the people were living in constant fear, owing to the deteriorating law and order situation.