Arvind Kejriwal was in Patiala to launch Punjab government's 'CM di Yogshala' programme
In an apparent reference to the police crackdown on radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his supporters, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday praised Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his handling of law and order saying with the move he sent a message across that no one who disturbs peace in the state will be spared.
Mr Kejriwal said while there were incidents of clashes in some parts of the country on Ram Navami, there was complete peace in Punjab.
"For the past one month you have been seeing how Mann saab, with maturity and tough steps, gave a message that if anybody tries to disturb peace in Punjab, he will not be spared," Mr Kejriwal said.
"Since last week, you have been seeing news from different parts of the country relating to incidents of riot on Ram Navami. There was not a single incident of riot in Punjab. There is peace in Punjab," he said.
Punjab Police had on March 18 arrested several of Amritpal Singh's supporters in a crackdown in Jalandhar against the leader and his group 'Waris Punjab de' for disturbing law and order in the state. Amritpal, however, escaped the police dragnet and has been on the run since.
"Nobody will be allowed to disturb peace in Punjab, however dreaded and mighty he may be," Mr Kejriwal said.
The Aam Aadmi Party national convener also slammed the previous state governments over inaction on SIT reports on the drugs issue, which, he said, kept lying with the high court for many years.
The AAP government told the court to open the reports, he claimed.
Mr Kejriwal was in Patiala to launch Punjab government's 'CM di Yogshala' programme, which is being started from Patiala, Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Phagwara.
Addressing a gathering, Mr Kejriwal said in the last one year, the AAP government did a lot of work in Punjab. "But the work done on law and order in Punjab was quite praiseworthy." The Delhi Chief Minister alleged that the law and order situation was pathetic during the previous governments, and when AAP came to power in the state, it came to know that gangsters and criminals had political patronage.
He said when his party took over in Punjab, there were many problems. "I will not say all the problems have been resolved. A lot has to be done. a lot has to be done in each field." "We are walking on the right path as we are an honest government in Punjab," he said.
Referring to the 2015 sacrilege and subsequent police firing incidents, Mr Kejriwal said justice was long pending in these incidents and the party used to hear about it all the time.
"We used to hear that very big people were involved in it. Challan was not being presented. We had no connection with anybody," he said.
Mr Kejriwal said under the Mann government, the Special Investigation Team of the Punjab Police was given a free hand to probe the matter. "I am happy to note that whatever big names were there, they were named in challan and it has been submitted in the court." The Punjab Police SIT, probing the Kotkapura police firing incident, had named Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal, the then Chief Minister and deputy CM, ex-DGP Sumedh Saini, and many others in the 7,000-page charge sheet filed in the Faridkot court.
Mr Kejriwal alleged that the SIT reports on nexus between police and drug traffickers, which were submitted in the court, remained closed in envelopes for many years as previous governments did not want these reports to come out in the open.
"I came to know yesterday that the court has opened the envelope and those who are the mastermind in the drugs cases will be put behind bars one by one," he said.
Mr Mann had on Tuesday said his government will soon initiate action based on three reports pertaining to an alleged nexus between certain police officers and drug traffickers in the state.
Mr Mann's statement had come days after the Punjab and Haryana High court opened three out of four sealed cover reports regarding the role of police officers in the drug trade in Punjab.