Union Minister and Punjab BJP President Vijay Sampla condoled the death of Ferozepur SSP Manminder Singh, who passed away today following a heart attack, and strongly castigated those jumping to indulge in partisan politics over the death of a brave officer even before his family has had time to grieve."Since when has partisan politics and allegation hurling become so important that certain politicians now do not shy away from using even the death of a serving officer to indulge in petty politics," Sampla said, referring to Punjab Congress' head Amarinder Singh's claim that the SSP died due to stress faced by police.
"At least at a time like this, public representatives can come together and stand by the bereaved family. It is a time to recognise the sacrifices our men and women in uniform make, whether in police or in other armed services. Instead, we have a senior politician of the Congress issuing statements that the deceased officer could not stand the stress of the work. It is a shame that he chose the day of grief to say something so mean," Sampla said.The Punjab BJP president said Amarinder's sin was compounded by the fact that he himself has been a former armyman, and has authored books on military history. "I wish he reads up a little bit on what it takes to be a police officer. Officers of Punjab Police have faced the bullets of terrorists but never succumbed to pressure. No brave Punjabi will take such insults lying down, and Amarinder must apologise for hurting the family of the deceased officer and the pride of Punjabis with his ridiculous statement," Sampla added.