“For his next rally, Sukhbir Singh Badal should come and tell Punjab’s people what he actually did for the 10 years he was in power. How did chitta (drugs) enter Punjab from 2007 to 2017?
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab’s State Media In-charge Baltej Pannu responded on Wednesday to the statement made by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal that if his government comes to power, drug traffickers and gangsters would be declared “terrorists” in the first cabinet meeting.
Speaking at a press conference at the party office, Baltej Pannu said Sukhbir Singh Badal seems to think that the people of Punjab have deleted the 2007-2017 memory. “He is wrong, we have not forgotten. The drug (chitta) and gangster seeds were sown during the Akali-BJP government, and they were nurtured by them. Punjab, before 2007, had not even heard the word gangster. During the tenure of Sukhbir Singh Badal, criminals enjoyed political patronage,” he added.
The AAP Punjab State Media Incharge gave instances of how the Akali Dal leaders had put obstacles in the way of the police reaching drug dealers. “Like in the Majitha constituency, when Gaganjit Singh Barnala was asked for a urine sample, he refused. Who doesn’t already know where Majithia’s residence is and who used to sit at its entrance? The names of all the drug suppliers in Majitha are already on the record, as are the details of how the police was not allowed to go near them,” said Baltej Pannu.
Baltej Pannu added, “From 2007 to 2012, drug outlets were opened everywhere in Punjab and after the 2012 government came back, chitta was its extreme. Sukhbir Singh Badal is the culprit who pushed an entire generation of Punjab into drugs. Whenever the police caught a drug smuggler, after half an hour his picture with the Akali leaders would come out and after half an hour, a recommendation from a minister would come. To leave him today, the same Sukhbir Singh Badal is telling his first meeting to act, it’s ridiculous. “
Baltej Pannu praised the AAP government by saying, “The AAP Government led by CM Bhagwant Singh Mann is fighting a war against drugs and gangsters with all its might. Committees have been constituted to the level of the village and police are on high alert. When the government of Bhagwant Mann is uprooting it from its roots, Sukhbir Singh Badal is power-hungry again so that he can re-establish the same old drug empire. ”.
Recalling the incidents of the past Baltej Pannu challenged, “Can the Akali Dal tell the people of Punjab, who was responsible for incidents of sacrilege against Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala during their regime and who ordered the firing on peacefully protesting people? In the Kotkapura firing incident, Sukhbir Singh Badal himself is currently out on bail. Not Sikhs alone but many prominent Sikh personalities including the Head Granthi of Sri Darbar Sahhib Giani Raghbir Singh Ji are posing questions to the Akali family, yet Sukhbir Singh Badal is maintaining a deep silence on it.”
“For his next rally, Sukhbir Singh Badal should come and tell Punjab’s people what he actually did for the 10 years he was in power. How did chitta (drugs) enter Punjab from 2007 to 2017? And how did the owners of scooter stand units worth just a few lakh turned into multi-billionaires? The people of Punjab don’t have such weak memory that they would forget which of their family members shed blood and which of their young ones got addicted. Sukhbir Singh Badal should stop dreaming as Punjab has now seen through them,” Baltej Pannu said.
