Former Chief Minister and Permanent Invitee to the Congress Working Committee Capt Amarinder Singh today lashed out at BJP leader Arun Jaitely’s silence over the murderous assault on a lawyer and false FIR against another at the behest of his protégé and tainted minister Anil Joshi who is facing criminal charges in a case of dual votes.In a statement issued here today Capt Amarinder pointed out, Mr Jaitely voices his opinion on each and everything that takes place under the sun, but has maintained an intriguing silence over the recent incidents of murderous assault on a lawyer and false case against another, who happen to be his professional colleagues as he himself is a lawyer. “Mr Jaitely’s silence on the issue will only amount to his acquiescence and approval of whatever Joshi has been doing in Amritsar”, he remarked.
The former Chief Minister observed that given his posturing as an aspiring representative of the people of Amritsar, Jaitely is not expected to maintain a silence on such a serious issue which has already forced the lawyers here to strike down their work. “Even as a lawyer he should have at least had some empathy for his fellow colleagues who were being victimised with his patronage”, he said.Capt Amarinder warned that in case Mr Jaitely did not tame his people like Joshi who are turning rabid in frustration it can have disastrous consequences and he (Mr Jaitely) shall be responsible for the same. “Because an impression has been created that the people who attacked Vaneet Mahajan and before that tried to assault Sandeep Gorsi an evening before at a restaurant and later got a case of attempt to murder registered against him, are doing it with Jaitely’s patronage, if not at his behest”, he pointed out, while adding, Jaitely’s silence will only reinforce the public perception that he is approving of it and has become a part of political vendetta already being practised in the state by the Akali-BJP alliance.
Warning of dangerous repercussions, the former Chief Minister said, there was lot of anger and resentment among the Congress workers and it will be difficult to control their anger. “And if they decide to retaliate the same way, which they are fully capable of, as the BJP workers are doing, it will have dangerous repercussions for the peace in the holy city”, he said while warning that if this evil is not nipped in the bud it may criminalise politics in Amritsar.
The senior Congress leader said, it looked like an act of the underworld the way Mahajan was attacked by people who came in several vehicles with the obvious motive to eliminate him so that he will not be able to appear as a witness in the court in connection with the case going on against Joshi for dual votes.