Punjab polls: Channi failed to protect PM, how can he secure Punjab, asks Shah

Ludhiana/Patiala: Targeting Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi ahead of next week’s assembly elections in the state, Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday sought to know how the CM who failed to provide a secure route to Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be able to keep the state safe.

In his first public rally for the February 20 state assembly polls in Ludhiana’s historic Daresi ground, the BJP leader said: “Channi sahib is dreaming of forming a Congress government in Punjab again. Can a chief minister who cannot provide a secure route to the Prime Minister of India provide security to Punjab?” Shah questioned.

The BJP leader also assured of strengthening security in Punjab, tackling drug menace, benefits to farmers and preventing large-scale religious conversions.

Accusing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal of playing vote politics, Shah said he can only revive terrorism. “It is only the Modi government that has kept the nation secure,” he said. Shah added that when the UPA government was in power, terrorists from Pakistan used to enter our territory and kill our countrymen without fear. “Pakistan attacked Pulwama, and in 10 days, we responded with surgical strikes,” said Shah, praising the youth of Punjab for being present everywhere by donning the uniform and securing the country.

The BJP leader said if voted to power, the BJP will make Punjab drugs-free. “We will establish offices of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in four major cities of Punjab, including Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala, to tackle drug menace in the state,” he said.

Shah also promised debt waiver for farmers of the state. “The NDA government will ensure soil health, encourage crop diversification and change of cropping pattern. Punjab farmers have fed the nation all these years and they deserve to be incentivised,” he said.

On religious conversions in Punjab, the BJP leader said: “I wish to ask Channi what he has done about it? Only the BJP can stop this,” he said.

Speaking about how the BJP has been a vanguard in safeguarding the interests of the Sikhs, Shah said not only had they instituted a SIT to further take the investigations of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, they also ensured the safe evacuation of the holy Sikh scriptures from Afghanistan following Taliban’s takeover. He said Amritsar has been made a heritage city and Ludhiana is on way to become a smart city due to the vision of the Modi government.

Why no Sikh minister in Delhi govt: Shah to Kejri

Addressing a rally in Patiala, the Union home minister termed former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh a true nationalist and said that Congress humiliated him as he worked above party lines in terms of national security.

Shah made these remarks just after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vardra attacked Amarinder by saying “he was controlled by the BJP”.

Attacking Arvind Kejriwal, Shah said the Delhi CM was coming to Punjab seeking votes of Punjabis and Sikhs, but can he answer why he has not appointed even a single Sikh as a minister in his government?

He said the NDA government has a clear roadmap for rejuvenation of industry and agriculture in the state. Punjab needs to get back that place of pride and the NDA government here will ensure it in coordination with the central government, Shah added.

Shah meets Akal Takht jathedar

The Union home minister met Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh during his visit to Golden Temple. After paying obeisance at the sanctum sanctorum and Akal Takht, Shah, along with former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh and BJP candidate from Rupnagar Iqbal Singh Lalpura, visited the Takht secretariat, where he had closed-door meeting with the jathedar for around an hour.

“The jathedar raised issues such as celebration of 400th Parkash Gurpurb (birth anniversary) ninth Sikh master Guru Teg Bahadur, release of Sikh political prisoners, reinstating status of Punjabi language in Jammu and Kashmir, giving reservation to Sikhs of Jammu and Kashmir with minority status, naming Anandpur Sahib-Delhi road after ninth Guru and unfair religious conversion of Sikhs’’, said the former DSGMC president who recently joined the saffron party. The home minister said they will meet all the demands after the election process finishes.

Shah also paid obeisance at Durgiana Temple and Bhagwan Valmiki Temple in Amritsar.

(Inputs from Surjit Singh in Amritsar)