Reiterating the firm commitment of the state government to maintain peace and communal harmony in the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today said that the state government was fully ready to meet any sort of challenge and no one would be allowed to disturb hard earned peace in the state.Interacting with the media persons after paying tributes to late Mr. Maan Singh Manhera on his third death anniversary here today, the Chief Minister said that said that the state government was keeping a strict vigil to prevent any sort of untoward incident in the state. He said that the state government was well aware of its bounden duty to maintain peace in Punjab.
Badal, however, said that there was no possibility of any sort of incident in the backdrop of the Dina Nagar terror attack. He also exhorted the people to don’t get swayed away by the rumors in this regard.Earlier, while paying tributes to late Mr. Manhera, the Chief Minister slammed the Congress party for misleading the poor and downtrodden sections of the society in order to fulfill its vested political interests. He said that instead of formulating the policies for the development of the weaker sections of society the Congress has always deceived them by depriving them of their legitimate rights and by devising pro-rich policies. Mr. Badal said that it was the policy of the Congress to deny basic facilities to weaker sections of the society. “The net result of all these anti-poor policies of the Congress party is that the nation is confronting numerous social maladies like Poverty, inflation, corruption, illiteracy and others despite of the fact that the nature has blessed our country with a bounty of productive natural resources” added Mr. Badal.
However, the Chief Minister said that in lieu of underlying spirit of the constitution i.e. socialism and secularism, the Shiromani Akali Dal has made it as a basis of its basic ideology. He said that the Congress has always damaged the interests of the Sikh community by irrelevantly meddling in its social, economic, political and even religious issues.The Chief Minister further said the SAD-BJP alliance government has taken path breaking initiatives for ensuring the welfare of the weaker sections of the society. He said that the SAD-BJP government was the only government in the country which had started Atta-Dal Scheme, Mai Bhago Vidya Scheme, Shagun Scheme and others for well being of the downtrodden and weaker sections of the society.
Likewise, the Chief Minister said that the state government has spend nearly Rs 1000 crore for perpetuating the rich legacy of state by creating a network of several magnificent memorials viz. Virasat-e-Khalsa, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur War Memorial, Chotta Ghallugara and Vadda Ghalugarra memorials. Apart from these several other state of the art memorials like Jang-e-Azaadi, War Heroes Memorial cum museum, Baba Jiwan Singh Memorial, Sri Guru Ravidass memorial and others were in pipeline. Mr. Badal said that the sole aim of constructing these memorials was to keep our younger generations abreast with the glorious and rich cultural and historic legacy of the state.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister also announced to construct a community hall in the memory of late Mr. Manhera.Prominent amongst other present on the occasion included Lok Sabha MP Prof. Prem Singh Chandumajra, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mr. NK Sharma, MLA Justice (Retd.) Nirmal Singh, Chairperson Punjab Women’s Commission Bibi Parmjeet Kaur Laandran, former Union Minister Mr. Balwant Singh Ramoowalia and former MLA Jathedar Ujaagar Singh.