Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday dismissed the Moga rally of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as not a 'Paani bachao, Punjab bachao' rally but a desperate 'Badal bachao' cry for help from a party that had lost all credibility in the state it had misruled for 10 years.Notwithstanding the 'hired' workers and the crowds that had been lured or coerced into coming to the rally venue, it was evident that the party was totally bereft of any issues and was clearly on the defensive in the face of imminent defeat in the coming Assembly elections, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president said in a statement.Captain Amarinder pointed out that the so-called anti-SYL mega rally turned out to be a mega damp squib as the chief minister, who was celebrating his birthday to mark the occasion, failed to announce any action plan on the SYL issue. It was, once again, a lot of rhetoric that the Badals had been repeating incessantly for the past several weeks on the SYL issue, and which the people of Punjab have now learnt to take with a pinch of salt, he added.The people of the state know that the entire drama has been enacted by the Badals with an eye on the coming polls, said Captain Amarinder, pointing out that it was Parkash Singh Badal who was responsible for bringing the SYL issue to such a pass. Had he made some effort to have the case properly battled in the Supreme Court all these years, things would have been different, said the PPCC president, recalling that Badal was the man responsible for selling off the interests of Punjab on the SYL issue.
And he did it in exchange for a paltry amount from neighboring Haryana, merely on account of his personal relations with Haryana’s then chief minister Devi Lal, said Captain Amarinder, adding that there was sufficient documentary proof to endorse this.Having pulled all official stops, including brazen display of administrative machinery and use of public funds, the Badals had apparently been looking to launch their poll campaign with this rally on a high note. But even the speeches of the Akali leaders were as low on enthusiasm as the response of the crowd at the rally, pointed out Captain Amarinder.The entire rally scene resembled a large stage of actors striving hard to play their small roles in a flop movie, said Captain Amarinder, adding that even the acting appeared to be jaded and totally lacking in spontaneity.That the Akali cadres had also given up on any hopes of the party’s victory was evident in the total absence of enthusiasm at the rally, which merely witnessed all players in the game going through the motions of showing a united front even though the entire state was by now aware of the fact that the party had already split by its seams, said the PPCC president.If this was the shape of the SAD’s biggest show ahead of the elections, one can only imagine what their other, smaller shows will look like, the Punjab Congress president said, adding that the Akali credibility had hit an all-time low, which not even their best efforts could now help them regain.The people of Punjab now don’t have even alms to give to Parkash Singh Badal, who has been begging for votes ‘to add 10 years’ to his life, said the PPCC president, adding that the votes of the state’s electorate were too precious to be wasted on the likes of the Badals and their ilk, who have spent the last 10 years plundering and looting the state and who were now seeking another term merely to rob it of the last vestiges of its resources.