2017 polls on mind; Kejriwal lashes out at Akalis, Congress

Ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday urged people to oust the Badals from power in Punjab, asserting that the once progressive state was on the verge of ruin. 

He accused both the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of being hand-in-glove with each other, and urged people to vote for the AAP in the 2017 Assembly polls, thereby bringing an end to “corruption, drug abuse, farmer suicides” and putting the state back on the “right track”.

Addressing a rally at Maghi Mela here, Kejriwal said if AAP forms the government in Punjab, it will probe the sacrilege incidents in the state and take action against police officers for opening fire at protesting Sikhs at Behbal Kalan, in which two persons were killed.

“Both the Congress and the SAD are hand-in-glove with each other. They do not have anything to do with the problems of people in the state. They are just for power – Amarinder (Singh) first, and then (Chief Minister Parkash Singh) Badal... this goes on,” he said.

The AAP’s national convener pointed out that though both the leaders lodged cases against each other when they were in power, it did not affect the two much. “What happened to them? The cases are going on in courts,” he said, adding that there was a secret understanding between both the parties not to allow anyone to rise against them.

Citing an example to prove “deep bond” between Amarinder and Badal, he said: “Badal family members attended Amarinder’s grandson’s marriage. Amarinder and Badals are same. They do not care about people at all...You will have to decide which party you want in power. One side (Congress and Akalis) is corruption, while other side (AAP) is truth. There is a drug trade on one side and on the other side, you will find efforts to build a new Punjab.” 

Kejriwal said a commission would be set up to probe all the “wrong-doings” of the Badal government during the last 10 years and that they will be sent behind bars. Taking a swipe at Badal, he said: “How can I be scared of Badal when I was not scared of Badal’s Taau – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who sent the CBI to raid me? It is Mulayam, Mayawati or Badal who can get scared of the CBI. I am not.”  He lambasted Badal for “saving” Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia, whose name allegedly cropped up in a drug racket. “Had I been a CM of Punjab, I would have sent Majithia to jail at once,” he said.

Kejriwal also took on Amarinder for not supporting a CBI probe the in drug racket case. “Why Amarinder supported Majithia? What is the relation between Amarinder and Majithia?” he questioned.

“Next year when AAP forms the government in Punjab, we will set up a commission to probe the drug racket and send Majithia to jail. Only AAP can send Majithia to jail, Amarinder cannot put him behind bars,” he said. 

“Badals have looted Punjab in the last 10 years. Farmers were forced to commit suicide,” Kejriwal alleged.

Kejriwal, who sported a yellow turban, was accompanied by the party’s Punjab affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh, Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, party convener (Punjab) Sucha Singh Chottepur, lawyer HS Phoolka, Sukhpal Khaira and Himmat Singh Shergill, among other party workers.

Kejriwal also tried stirring the emotional chord of residents by saying that it was his government in Delhi that had set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

“No party did anything to bring justice to the victims of anti-Sikh riots, in which several political leaders were accused. We did in just 49 days what was not done in 30 years,” Kejriwal said.

Referring to farmer suicides in the state, he said if the AAP came to power in Punjab, farmers affected by the vagaries of adverse weather conditions will not end their lives. He also hit out at the Badal government for allegedly paying “peanuts” to farmers, whose crop got damaged. “I talked to several farmers here. They said they were paid a compensation of Rs 15-18. Crops also got damaged in Delhi, but we paid Rs 50,000 per hectare to the affected farmers. No farmer in Delhi committed suicide,” he claimed. “When AAP government comes to power (in Punjab), we will not let farmers end their lives,” he added.

Talking about corruption, he said the Delhi government had taken strict action against officials involved in corruption. “People were fed up with corruption in Delhi. I took action against several officials who were charged with graft,” he said.