For support in Patiala, Prakash Singh Badal revisits 1984 riots, Bluestar

PATIALA: Making an appeal to SAD workers to turn up in huge numbers for his rally in CM Amarinder Singh's bastion, Patiala, on October 7, Shiromani Akali Dal patron Prakash Singh Badal said here on Tuesday that Punjabis should not forget the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and Operation Bluestar when it came to the Congress.

Badal's statement came during his visit to assembly constituencies in Patiala district as part of drumming up support for his rally, named 'Jabar Virodhi' (resisting repression). While Badal's rally will be held in Patiala, the CM will be holding a parallel rally in his predecessor's stronghold, Lambi.

Badal said time had come for SAD to stand up against injustice meted out to SAD workers during recent block samiti and zila parishad elections. He said SAD workers should show no fear of false FIRs and instead be prepared to go to prison to protest against what he called "the murder of the democracy". "I have spent years in jails and become the chief minister," he said.

He said he had never seen the misuse of government machinery to the extent to which the Congress had done in the recent block samiti and zila parishad polls. "People should hold chief minister Amarinder Singh accountable for the use of force and should not blame government officials, as they were simply following orders of the top boss," the former CM said.