Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh, accompanied by thousands of party workers and senior leaders, today stormed into the police station Dayalpura offering himself for arrest to protest against the false cases slapped against the former MLA Gurpreet Singh Kangar and several others. However, the accused SHO who is responsible for registering the false case besides indulging in brutalities upon the Congress workers’ families had left the police station before Capt Amarinder’s arrival.
Capt Amarinder warned the Akali-BJP government that in case it did not stop the vendetta against the Congress workers they will be forced to come on the streets. He said, despite the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s claims, several cases of vendetta have been registered in different parts of the state. He announced that he will be visiting each and every worker who has been victimised with vendetta.
The PCC President was accompanied by senior leaders who included PCC general secretaries Harminder Jassi, Fateh Jang Bajwa, Kushaldeep ‘Kikki’ Dhillon, Arvind Khanna, Rana Gurjeet, Joginder Singh Panjgraian, Darshan Singh Brar, Ajit Singh Shant, Chiranji Lal Garg and others.
Talking to reporters inside the police station, Capt Amarinder said, “this government seems to be desperate to put the Congress workers behind the bars and I have come here today to tell them if you are so desperate arrest me but don’t harass my workers”. He regretted that the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had not stood by his word.
He pointed out, the Chief Minister had committed and promised inside the assembly that he will not allow any vendetta to take place and also look into those cases brought to his notice. However, the vendetta continues and the Congress workers continue to be victimised and the Chief Minister continues to turn a blind eye towards all that is happening under his nose, he remarked.
The PCC President went to the house of Tarsem Singh and Baljeet Singh who have also been falsely implicated in the case alongwith Kangar. Their family members narrated as how the SHO Sikander Singh alongwith 20 other policemen let loose a reign of terror on the family including the elderly and the children. One of the ladies told Capt Amarinder that when she tried to reason out with the SHO that why was he victimising the family members, he (the SHO) told her that as long as Tarsem and Baljeet were not arrested he will be detaining their children and the elderly who included 11 year old Dilawer and 82 year old Sardool Singh.
Capt Amarinder said, the only fault of Tarsem and Baljeet was that they had supported Congress. “Is this the democratic government that Mr Badal is presiding over? Is this the democracy that you vicitmise your political opponents to coerce them into submission?” he asked, while warning of dangerous repercussions.
The PCC President said, if the government is really so desperate to put Congress workers behind the bars they will flood the jails and the space will be too short. “Today we had only planned a symbolic demonstration to register our protest and visit the victims’ families and if the vendetta does not stop we will storm all the police stations and it will be difficult for the government to control the situation”, he warned, while hoping the Chief Minister is able to see reason and stop vendetta.