Describing the twin principles of ‘Socialism and Secularism’ as the underlying spirit of Indian Constitution, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that any deviation from these two basic tenets of constitution would be against the interest of the country.
Interacting with the media persons on the sidelines of Sangat Darshan in Phagwara assembly segment here today, the Chief Minister said that India being a land of diversities was endowed with people hailing from various religions, castes, creeds and linguistic background. He said that in the backdrop of this very fact the forefathers of our Constitution had laid special thrust on the concepts of socialism and secularism in our constitution adding that it was an integral part of our polity so there was hardly need for even debating on this issue. Citing the example of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Mr. Badal said that even the great monarchs like him had made the principle of secularism an essential part of his governance. “No country can survive without these doctrines as they firmly hold its social fabric together” he added.
Taking a jibe on the statement of former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh regarding fiscal emergency in the state, the Chief Minister said that rather than worrying about the issues of governance the Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar must try to set the house of their party in order. He said that before issuing such baseless statements Captain and state Congress Chief Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa must try to ensure discipline in their party by nailing the prevailing infighting. Mr. Badal also called upon the entire opposition to play a constructive role by co-operating the government in making Punjab a frontrunner state in the country. “Healthy criticism by opposition is always welcome but criticism for the sake of criticism is undesirable and unwarranted” he added.
The Chief Minister said that the step motherly treatment by Congress coupled with its regressive policies have broken the backbone of Punjab’s economy. He reiterated 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. Mr. Badal 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.Taking the Congress party to cudgels, the Chief Minister said that it has a notorious past of adopting an anti-Punjab stance due to which the state has suffered a lot. Mr. Badal said that the Congress party has deliberately denied the Punjabi speaking areas and Chandigarh to state adding that Punjab was probably the only state in the country which has been hitherto deprived of its capital.
Replying to another query, the Chief Minister said that he would soon meet the Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley for seeking the release of pending Rs 400 crore sanctioned by the 13th Finance Commission. He said that the funds sanctioned by constitutional body like Finance Commission should be given to the state adding that he would soon take up this issue with the Union government. erming that diversification of agriculture was the need of hour, the Chief Minister said that it was must for bailing out the farmers of the state from current agrarian crisis. Mr. Badal said that the hard working and resilient farmers of the state had made the country self reliant in food production by exploiting its only available natural resources in term of water and fertility of soil. However, he said that now when agriculture was no longer a profitable venture the farmers of the state must be encouraged to grow more remunerative and less water guzzling crops like Maize by providing MSP on them.
The Chief Minister covered 45 villages in today’s Sangat Darshan held at Mauli, Mehta, Nangal Majha and Ranipur. Acceding to the demand made by the local residents Mr. Badal announced that the District Transport Officer (DTO) Kapurthala would sit in Phagwara for two days in a week to facilitate the general public in getting their day-to-day work done. Likewise, he also asked the district administration to explore the feasibility of constructing multi-level parking in the city for easing out the traffic in it. The Chief Minister was accompanied by Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mr. Som Parkash, Chairman Markfed Mr. Jarnail Singh Wahid, Chairman Market Committee Phagwara Jathedar Sarwan Singh Kular, Deputy Inspector General of Police Kunwar Vijay Pratap, his Special Principal Secretary Dr S Karunaraju and Deputy Commissioner Mr. DS Mangat.