Captain Amarinder Singh
Jalandhar, January 22, 2017: Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh has urged the Election Commission to send back the outsiders brought into Punjab by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during election time as it could disturb the state’s peace and lead to violence.
Talking to mediapersons here on Sunday, Captain Amarinder said he had written to EC to take serious cognizance of the fact that AAP had inducted more than 27000 persons of Punjabi origin settled elsewhere, including foreign nationals, and 40000 volunteers from other states to campaign for their candidates.
Apprehending serious trouble, including a `Punjab v/s Outsiders’ divide as a result of this, Captain Amarinder said these people were going door to door with all kinds of false and misleading propaganda, and were organizing rallies against the Election Commission of India (ECI) instructions.
As per ECI guidelines, outsiders cannot stay in Punjab for elections on the appointed dates and are supposed to leave the state 48 hours before the polling, said Captain Amarinder in his letter. Further, he said, there was tremendous resentment among the local youth who were likely to confront these outsiders, which could lead to violent clashes before and during the poll.
He said most of these people from outside Punjab were being guided and monitored in three regions of the state, namely Majha, Doaba and Malwa by three different leaders, Shri Durgesh Pathak, Shri Sanjay Singh, and Shri Jarnail Singh respectively. Some of these foreign nationals are assuring the youth to take them abroad for jobs, he added.
In order to save the situation for peaceful election, he urged the ECI that these outsiders to be identified and moved out immediately, else it will cause grave law order situation.
In response to questions from the media, Captain Amarinder said Kejriwal had clearly shown that he had neither the time nor the interest to look after the people of Punjab and their welfare, and added that AAP had absolutely no connect with this state and was only trying to exploit the poll opportunity to promote its vested interests.
Castigating the Badals for the devastation caused to the state by their corrupt and anti-people policies, Captain Amarinder said they had looted the people from every nook and corner, through their multitude of mafias, including liquor, transport, sand, cable etc. Sand, for instance, was a Rs. 6000 crore business while the state was earning a mere Rs. 35 crore from it, clearly indicating a deep nexus between the sand mafia and the ruling Akalis, he added.
He also lambasted Badal for failing to protect the water rights of Punjab, bringing the state, particularly the southern region of Malwa, to the brink of aridity. Captain Amarinder reiterated that he would not allow a single drop of water to go out of the hands of Punjab’s people.
Captain Amarinder also hit out at Sukhbir Badal for copying the Congress promise of farm debt waiver, asking him what he had been doing for the past 10 years and why the Akali government had not taken care of the interests of the farmers all this while.