Congress candidate from Shri Anandpur Sahab parliamentary constituency Manish Tewari today lashed out at the Akali-BJP candidate, Prem Singh Chandumajra for trying to play sectarian politics and polarize people along communal lines.“Chandumajra is the ideological cousin of Sadhvi Pragya as both have a similar past and it is not surprising that both the candidates belong to the same Akali-BJP alliance”, Tewari remarked while referring to Chandumajra’s past during dark days in Punjab.“Unfortunately Chandumajra has not come out of the 1980s’ mindset, when he fiddled with terrorism and was jailed for it, and that is the reason he is continuously trying to divide people along communal lines”, Tewari said, while referring to Chandumajra’s past associations with militants for which he spent some time in jail also.IN an informal conversation with reporters after addressing a public meeting in village Abhiana in Ropar assembly segment here today, Tewari, while replying to a question that Chandumajra was saying that Shri Anandpur Sahab is a panthic constituency and a Hindu candidate like Tewari had no claim over it, reiterated that there was no ‘panthic’ or ‘non-panthic’ constituency in Punjab and the only constituency in Punjab is that of Punjbis and the Punjabiyat.
However, he added, someone like Chandumajra, who involved himself in terrorism targeting people of minority communities during the dark days, cannot understand that. “By asserting that Shri Anandpur Sahab is a panthic constituency, Chandumajra is trying to polarize people along communal lines”, he observed, while adding, “but let me tell him (Chandumjra) that people of Punjab could not be polarized even during the dark days of terrorism, when people like Chandumajra tried their best to do that, they cannot be polarized even now and never ever”.Tewari said, Chandumajra was gradually revealing his true colours and real character that he was still the prisoner of the same mindset that he possessed and exhibited during the days of terror in 1980s, by trying to divide people on communal lines.The Congress candidate said, however, he was not surprised as the Akalis and the BJP were the two sides of the same coin. “Like the BJP has fielded Sadhvi Pragya in Bhopal, the Akalis have fielded Chandumajra from Shri Anandpur Sahab”, Tewari remarked in a scathing attack on Chandumarja, who has often been saying that Shri Anandpur Sahab being a panthic constituency will not accept a Hindu candidate like Tewari.