New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) The Congress on Friday hit out at the BJP over its political gimmicks and ED’s raids against Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s relatives, alleging that the saffron party is taking revenge from the people of Punjab for supporting the farmers’ agitation.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the people of the state will not be cowed down by these tactics ahead of the assembly elections and they have already made up their mind about re-electing Congress government in Punjab.
“BJP’s political ‘nautanki’ (gimmicks) in Punjab has started ahead of assembly elections. JP’s ‘Election Department’ known as Enforcement Directorate has come on the field and an onslaught on Punjab and Punjabis has been launched for supporting the farmers’ agitation,” he told reporters.
Surjewala alleged that fake raids and arrests are taking place in the state to stop the Congress from coming back into power.
“This is not an attack on Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi but on all those Punjabis who extended their support to farmers, farm labourers and the poor,” he said.
“Channi’s relative is being embroiled in a six-year-old case and (Congress state unit chief) Navjot Singh Sidhu is being dragged in a 33-year-old case. This is a tactic to divert attention through politics by the BJP, which is not even winning one seat in Punjab’ and it has come into the fray to help its ‘B-team’ of Arvind Kejriwal,” the Congress leader alleged.
Senior party leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the arrest of Channi’s relative is a tactic to intimidate him as he belongs to the Scheduled Caste community.
“The BJP cannot tolerate that a person from among the SCs has become a chief minister,” Kharge alleged, saying it is being done to damage Channi politically.
Surjewala also alleged that the government has converted its agencies into its frontal organisations to settle political scores.
Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case linked to alleged illegal sand mining late Thursday night after several hours of questioning at the agency’s office in Jalandhar.
Honey is the son of Channi’s sister-in-law.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told reporters it is “absolutely deplorable” that every time there is an election and a democratically-elected government has to be toppled, the Modi government resorts to using government agencies like the Enforcement Directorate.
“The ED should actually be called the ‘Election Directorate’ quite frankly. The CBI or the Income Tax (Department are being used) to topple these governments, to target the people who are otherwise representing the real aspirations of the people of this country,” she alleged.
Shrinate alleged that the BJP, RSS and the prime minister are absolutely against Dalits and there is a reason why they don’t seem to able to digest the fact that a Dalit man can be the chief minister of Punjab in independent India.
She said that though they have 17 governments elected across the country, not one Dalit leads their government and that is why they are targeting Dalits.
“They are targeting the farmers of Punjab, who stood there, who stood there peacefully and made you bow down and you had to withdraw the farm laws,” she said.
“There are people who may be scared of the ED. You have raked up cases which are six- years-old against (the nephew of) chief minister Channi or against Sidhu, which is 33-years- old. Maybe Amarinder Singh was too scared of ED and became a recluse under you.
“Maybe Majithia is too scared of the ED and has become a singing pigeon. Maybe Kejriwal is attacking a Dalit CM at your behest, but we are not the ones who can be cowed down. We are soldiers of Rahul Gandhi, of the Congress Party, and Channi with all his might, Sidhu with all his might, the Punjab Congress with all its might will continue to fight for the farmers of that state, for the welfare of the state,” she said. PTI SKC AAR AAR
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