CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal today lashed out at the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government over the complete collapse of law and order in Punjab, alleging that the AAP leadership was patronising gangsters in the state, which has led to the present sorry state of affairs.
The party demanded the immediate resignation of Bhagwant Mann as Home Minister for his failure to curb violence in Punjab.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here today, senior SAD leader Parmbans Singh Romana said that in the past 48 hours, four major firing incidents had taken place across the state in which four people lost their lives and around a dozen others were seriously injured. He pointed out that one person was killed in a shooting at Amritsar bus stand, a parolee was killed in Chheharta, another person was shot dead in a market in that town, and one person was killed while four others were injured at Banga bus stand.
He reminded that every Punjabi still remembers the murder of famous singer Sidhu Moosewala, prominent kabaddi players and traders in Abohar and Bathinda, and several other major incidents of violence that have occurred during the nearly four-year tenure of the AAP government.
The SAD leader alleged that the AAP government had facilitated a TV interview of dreaded gangster Lawrence Bishnoi while he was in Punjab Police custody — a fact that came to light during a High Court-ordered SIT inquiry. He added that everyone remembers how gangster Deepak Tinu escaped from Mansa Police custody and how female friends of gangsters were taken to meet them while they were in custody.
Mr Romana said gangsters were being provided every facility — from mobile phones to internet — inside Punjab jails, which they were using as safe havens. He claimed that the links of at least four AAP MLAs from Doaba region with gangsters, and their role in extortion rackets, were now in the public domain.
He accused the AAP leadership of levelling baseless allegations against opposition leaders regarding ties with gangsters only to divert public attention from the government’s abject failure on the law-and-order front. He said the AAP had grossly misused government machinery to win the recent Tarn Taran by-election, and both during and after the poll process, a witch-hunt was launched against Akali Dal leaders and workers. He pointed out that this was the first instance since Independence that an SSP was suspended by the Election Commission of India, and several other officers were transferred, for misusing police power. Instead of performing regular duties, the police were being used to intimidate and coerce political opponents, he alleged.
Mr Romana warned that such a collapse of law and order was leading to an exodus of industry from Punjab, massive job losses, and all-round economic damage.
He demanded that Chief Minister and Home Minister Bhagwant Mann immediately resign for his utter failure to control violence in the state during his tenure; otherwise, the people of Punjab are waiting for his remaining one year in office to end so they can show him the door.