This Article is From Feb 09, 2016

Congress Leader Amarinder Singh Warns AAP Against 'Destabilising' Punjab

Congress Leader Amarinder Singh Warns AAP Against 'Destabilising' Punjab

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh also lashed out at the ruling Akalis, alleging during past ten years, Punjab has gone down.

Chandigarh: Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today asked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) not to engage in "disruptive and destabilising tactics" while terming it "anti-national".

"Bhagat Singh wanted freedom from British, who does AAP want freedom from. Inquilab is a revolutionary word given by Bhagat Singh. He gave his life for nation's sake and now when our country is one, they (AAP) want to break it again by resorting to disruptive and destabilising tactics," the former chief minister said.

Mr Singh lashed out at the AAP saying, "In the political arena in India, which has a Constitution, a Parliament and a system, you cannot ask for a revolution within the country, it is anti-national. And you will disturb Punjab".

Speaking to reporters after inducting singer and former AAP leader Balkar Sidhu into the party, he asked the AAP to come clean "about the posters circulated by it, carrying pictures of Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, Arvind Kejriwal, Sucha Singh Chhotepur, Sanjay Singh and Bhagwant Mann, asking people to celebrate his (Bhindrawale's) birth anniversary by paying obeisance at the nearest gurdwaras."

However, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh rubbished the claim saying his party has nothing to do with the posters being circulated in the social media or otherwise.

Accusing AAP of waging a rebellion, the former chief minister said, on the one hand they were asking people for revolution and on the other hand exhorting people to celebrate Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale's birth anniversary.

"The AAP seems to be going beyond even Simranjit Singh Mann's Khalistan agenda," Mr Amarinder Singh said, adding, "They are trying to wage a rebellion".

He said, both the things were linked and it was dangerous for Punjab.

Replying to another question on the racial attacks on Sikhs in the United States, Mr Amarinder said, more than anybody else, it is the alleged failure of the SGPC Dharam Prachar Committee which has neither done any work at home nor abroad.

"Why SGPC can't spend it abroad by educating people there that the Sikhs are distinct from others", he said.

The PCC president thanked the US President Barack Obama for inducting a Sikh as top official in his government so that it gets clarified that the Sikhs are not Arabs.

"If Obama can feel for the Sikhs, I am surprised why the SGPC cannot. They should make people understand what is the difference between Osama Bin Laden and a Sikh. Unfortunately, they are not doing our duty?" he said hitting out at SGPC.

Asked if there was a possibility of Congress entering into a tie-up or some understanding with other parties before next year's Assembly polls, he replied, "Punjab needs stability, if secular forces align, that will bring stability".

Mr Amarinder Singh said he had met senior CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury once recently, but the issue was not discussed.

As far as BSP was concerned, he said any tie-up with Mayawati-led party will depend on what the senior leadership of the two parties decides.

"But yes, we want that secular forces should join hands so that Punjab remains stable," he said.

Mr Amarinder Singh also lashed out at the ruling Akalis, alleging during past ten years, Punjab has gone down.

"There has been total destruction of everything, be it agriculture sector, industrial sector, rise in unemployment. So we have to have a stable government and one which has experience," he said.
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