Squarely blaming the successive Congress governments at the centre for the ‘financial crunch’ in the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today said that the step motherly treatment by Congress coupled with its regressive policies have broken the backbone of Punjab’s economy.Interacting with the media persons on the sidelines of political conference to mark the Gurta Gaddi diwas of Sri Guru Angad Dev Ji here today, the Chief Minister said that the Congress has always adopted an anti-Punjab stance against the state due to which the development of the state has suffered a lot. He said that Punjab’s economy has been adversely affected due to the partition of the country and prolonged militancy but it got the fatal blow when the Congress granted incentives to the neighboring states, which led to the mass exodus of the industry of the state to these hilly states. “Punjab’s economy was derailed due to wrong policies of the Congress but we are trying our level best to put it back on track” added Mr. Badal.
Terming the formation of Modi government at the centre as a ‘silver lining’ for the state, the Chief Minister said that the days of discrimination with Punjab were over and now an era of unprecedented development would be heralded in the state. He expressed hope that the NDA government would soon allot some key projects, which would give impetus to the overall development of the state. Mr. Badal further said that the Modi government has taken over the reins of the nation recently but it would certainly give major projects to the state very soon.
The Chief Minister further said that the media has misinterpreted the letters written by Union Finance and Defence Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley whereas the reality was that the Union Minister had just referred the issue of debt waiver of state and revision of formula for Army recruitment to the concerned quarters. Showering heaps of praises for Mr. Jaitley, he said that due to the personal efforts of the Union Minister the holy city of Amritsar had got several key projects. Taking at jibe at former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh for his regular absence from Amritsar, Mr. Badal said that though Mr. Jaitley was doing so much for the holy city despite of his defeat but on the other hand the Lok Sabha MP elected by people was never seen anywhere.When asked to comment on dismal performance of BJP in recently concluded by-elections, the Chief Minister said that it was wrong to construe it as a referendum against the Modi government. He said that these elections were fought on local issues and hardly had any connection with the Modi waive.
The Chief Minister further said that the sole motive of Shiromani Akali Dal’s tie up with Indian National Lok Dal in ensuing Haryana assembly polls was to defeat the Congress party. He said that this would not have any bearing on age old ties of SAD-BJP as both the alliance partners were committed from routing the Congress out of power.Earlier addressing the mammoth gathering, the Chief Minister slammed the Congress party for irrelevantly meddling in the religious affairs of the Sikhs. He said that the sinister moves of Congress government in Haryana and Maharashtra to constitute separate Gurdawara Management Committee and reducing the representation of SGPC in Hazoor Sahib board respectively has given a severe blow to Sikh psyche. Mr. Badal said that the Sikhs could never forgive the Congress for Operation Blue Star and 1984 Sikh genocide.
Taking the Congress party to cudgels, the Chief Minister further said that it was deliberately trying to weaken the SGPC, the supreme organization of the Sikhs, which was not at all tolerable. He bemoaned that the Congress party has a dubious track record of step motherly treatment with the state adding that it has derived the Punjabis from their legitimate share in river waters, Punjabi speaking areas and even from their capital.Listing the achievements of the SAD-BJP government to make Punjab a power surplus state, the Chief Minister said that the Goindwal Thermal Power Plant would be soon made operational, which would further enhance the power generation capacity of the state. He said that the state government has made elaborate arrangements for providing coal linkage to this ambitious project, which would usher in an era of unprecedented development in the state.
Laying thrust on the need for imparting skill training to the youth of the state, the Chief Minister said that it was the need of the hour for opening new vistas of self employment for them. He said that the state government has set a target of providing skill training to alleast one lakh youth every year for which a vast network of skill training institutes have been set up. Likewise, Mr. Badal also exhorted the farmers to adopt crop persification as the traditional agriculture was no longer a profitable venture.The Chief Minister was accompanied by Lok Sabha MP Jathedar Ranjit Singh Brahampura, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prof. Virsa Singh Valtoha, MLAs Mr. Manjit Singh Mianwind and Jathedar Hari Singh Zira, Chairman District Planning Committee Tarn Taran Mr. Ravinder Singh Brahampura, senior Akali leaders Jathedar Alwinder Pal Singh Pakhoke and Jathedar Veer Singh Lopoke besides his Special Principal Secretary Dr. S Karunaraju.