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AMRITSAR, October 3: Several Congress leaders and legislators from border areas representing various assembly segments from Ferozepur to Gurdaspur today lashed out at the ruling SAD-BJP alliance over forcible evacuation of the residents from border villages against their will.
They also lashed out at the SAD spokesman Daljeet Singh Cheema for criticising the PCC president Capt Amarinder Singh over his opposition to evacuation from the border areas, when there was no need to, since the army continued to remain in peace positions.
In a joint statement senior MLAs including Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Aruna Chaudhry, Sukh Sarkaria and Parminder Singh Pinky, while supporting Capt Amarinder’s stand against border evacuation, asked Cheema to learn his lessons in defence and soldiering before trying to lecture others.
“Capt Amarinder is speaking from his knowledge and experience having participated in war in 1965 in the same areas”, they told Cheema, while asking him better to avoid pontificating Capt Amarinder on the matter of war and soldiering.
They also condemned Cheema for accusing the PCC president of creating mistrust between people and army, saying, if there is any leader in the country who is loved as much by the common people as by the army and the ex-servicemen, it is Capt Amarinder only. “Better come out with some other allegation”, they taunted the SAD leader.
While reiterating their support for strong measures against Pakistan, including surgical strikes, for instigating and abetting terror activities in India, the MLAs said, there was no need for evacuation of the border residents. The MLAs said, they were spending most of their time in the border villages only, and people there did not want or feel like moving out.
The Congress legislators pointed out, there was no evacuation in 1965, 1971, Kargil War or the Operation Parakram and now the BJP and the Akalis were trying to force the evacuations against the will of the people for their petty partisan benefits.
They reminded Cheema that even his Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had to face the public wrath in the border villages as they did not want to move out. “Better ask your leader as how he was treated by the angry villagers in several villages as they do not want to move out”, they advised the SAD spokesman.
The Congress legislators said, while the BJP was trying to raise the war hysteria for Uttar Pradesh elections, Mr Badal had rushed in to piggyback them in the misplaced hope that the hype and hysteria may lead to some electoral benefits for him in Punjab also.
Besides, they added, there was every possibility that the Chief Minister was gladly following BJP diktats deliberately, as he desperately needed an excuse to wriggle out of the problem of procurement he was most likely to face as he has no money to pay to the paddy growers. “But your bluff has already been called and you stand exposed in public as for what purpose you are forcing poor villagers to leave their home and hearth”, they told Akalis and the BJP.
