Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today said that the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was a pisive figure and people of Punjab in general and Amritsar in particular will never approve of his worldview.Referring to Mr Modi’s proposed visit to Amritsar on April 25 to campaign for Arun Jaitley, Capt Amarinder remarked, “Modi is not the first person to campaign for Jaitley and nor is he going to be the last one”.He pointed out, there was already a plethora of people with higher glamour quotient than Modi who have been campaigning for Jaitley. “Glamour may grab the attention for a while but it does not get you votes”, he remarked. He added, Modi’s Amritsar rally will be worse than Jagaraon.Capt Amarinder also asked Mr Modi about his commitment he made in Jagaraon on February 23 last, that no Punjabi farmer will be disturbed from Gujarat. He said, Modi seemed to have forgotten the commitment that very moment, apparently for low turnout, as his government was yet to withdraw the appeal against the farmers in the Supreme Court of India.
The former Chief Minister said, actually Mr Modi got the feel of things in Punjab on February 23 itself when his rally in Jagaraon witnessed an abysmally low turnout. “That is because people of Punjab believe in secular and progressive values”, he remarked adding, on the other hand Mr Modi was preaching a worldview which is sectarian and pisive and can take India back by years.Capt Amarinder said, apparently upset with the low turnout at his rally, he did not follow up his commitment to Punjabis that the Punjabi farmers in Gujarat will not be disturbed. “Had he (Mr Modi) been sincere about his commitment he would immediately have initiated the move and asked his officials to withdraw the appeal against the Gujarat High Court decision that favours the Punjabi farmers”, he pointed out.