Senior Congress leader and the party candidate from Shri Anandpur Sahib, Manish Tewari today said that he did not need someone like Prem Singh Chandumajra to teach him the meaning of what is ‘panthic’ as his DNA is as much panthic as anybody’s else.Tewari also blasted Chandumajra’s lie that he was never arrested under anti-terrorism laws and challenged him to file a suit in a court of law as he had threatened to do after he (Tewari) referred to his arrest. Responding to the Akali candidate’s claims, Tewari said, from Chandumajra’s own definition and admission, which he also agreed with, every seat in Punjab was panthic. “When it is so, then why has Chandumajra so much problems over my contesting from Shri Anandpur Sahib?” he asked, while adding, he stood as much for Punjab, the Punjabis and the Punjabiyat.Asserting that his DNA was as much panthic as anybody’s else, Tewari said, his late father Prof Vishwanath Tewari, a Rajya Sabha member had laid down his life while serving and safeguarding the same panthic principles of amity, harmony and brotherhood, which people like Chandumajra were trying to sabotage and undermine and were also jailed for it. “My father was assassinated by the same people who were keen to subvert and undermine the communal harmony and brotherhood in Punjab”, Tewari said.
Blasting Chandumajra’s claims that he was only arrested during the emergency and had never been arrested during terrorism, Tewari asked Chandumajra, “is it not a fact that you were arrested by the Punjab Police on May 12, 1987 and charged under anti terrorist laws for protecting and harbouring terrorists and extremists?”And is this also not a fact that your arrest was announced to the media on May 13, 1987 by no less a person that the then Director General of Punjab Police, Jullio Riberio himself”, he questioned Chandumajra while adding, “this is all recorded history and you are welcome to sue me in any court of law, but you cannot escape or wipe out your past, by threatening to sue people ”.The Congress candidate also ridiculed Chandumajra for comparing himself with the veteran Akali leader Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, who laid down his life were working for peace and harmony in Punjab. “It is strange and ridiculous that someone like Chandumajra, who was jailed under anti-terrorist law is comparing himself with a saint like Sant Longowal”, he said, while remarking, while one died for peace, the another tried his best to sabotage it and got jailed for it.