In a major slip of tongue Punjab CM initially blamed the Akalis for 43 desecration cases of Guru Granth Sahib, Gita and Quran Sharif in Punjab, but rectifying himself immediately, he said that they “did not do it” but failed to arrest those who actually did it. (File photo)Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh Thursday claimed that his government broke “the back of drug mafia in the state within four weeks of forming government”, keeping the Congress’s pre-poll promise. Captain, while addressing ‘Mission 13’ rally at Moga – Congress’s first in Punjab ahead of the Lok Sabha elections – also said that he has no doubts “Rahul Gandhi is the next Prime Minister of India seeing the current wave in the country”.
In a major slip of tongue, however, he initially blamed the Akalis for 43 desecration cases of Guru Granth Sahib, Gita and Quran Sharif in Punjab, but rectifying himself immediately, he said that they “did not do it” but failed to arrest those who actually did it.
He said that the Congress government has “fulfilled” all promises made before Punjab polls. “Main Gutka Sahib hatth ch lai ke keya si ki char hafte vich isda laq tadange…atey laq tuteya (I had vowed with Gutka Sahib in hand that I will break the back of the drug mafia within four weeks… we have done that. We have arrested so many drug dealers who were spoiling lives of our youth. At least, 550 kg of heroin had been confiscated. But, now task is to create jobs for them and we are already doing it,” said Captain, claiming that Rs 35,000 crore is being invested in Punjab to establish new industries and create jobs. “We have set a target of employing at least 1,000 youth daily be it through private placements or supporting their start-ups. Yesterday (Wednesday), we employed 808 youths,” he claimed.
Rahul, however, said that “big sharks” of the drug trade are out of reach and Modi should put Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the job. “Captain government has broken the backbone of the drug mafia, but big sharks have to be arrested. Why is Modi not doing anything despite having agencies like ED working under him? Giving speeches is not enough,” he said.
Captain then went on to say that Congress is going to win all 13 seats in Punjab in the coming polls. “Seeing the current wave in the country, I have no doubts in saying that Rahul Gandhi is the next Prime Minister of India,” said Captain.
He, however, had a major slip of tongue, when he said that there were 43 cases of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib, Gita and Quran and “they (Akalis) did it”. He corrected himself soon: “Ehna ne nahi kita… jinha ne vi kita… (They did not do it, but whoever did it)… they (the SAD-BJP) did not bother to arrest the culprits. We arrested all of them and solved all desecration cases. We are not going to spare anyone. If anyone tries to instigate communal tension in the state and harm Hindu-Sikh unity for political gains by desecrating holy texts, I will spare none. I will put all such Akalis behind the bars,” he said.
Captain also blamed the erstwhile SAD-BJP government for a “debt” of Rs 31,000 crore on Punjab due to the ongoing issue of Food Cash Credit limit with the central government since 2017.
“All this is meherbaani (doing) of Akalis… They left this debt due to their negligence. Despite having Modi at the Centre, (minister) Harsimrat Badal could not get it resolved. I have met Modi five times, but there is no progress. We are paying Rs 3,200 crore interest on it every year and in next 10 years, the amount will increase to Rs 60,000. From where is Punjab going to pay this? Why can’t Modi help Punjab in a problem related to farmers by buying their produce. We will still buy produce of our farmers even if Delhi fails to help. We will export our wheat to foreign countries if the Centre can’t help,” said Captain.
On India-Pakistan tension, he later said people in the border villages of Punjab are not afraid of the neighbouring country. “They are ready to face them and in fact have always faced them with great might and courage. They have jazba (fervour) to serve the country, which stands above everything else,” said Captain.
