"BJP used Akali Dal in anti-farmer agenda to implement three black laws," Charanjit Singh Channi said
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party had now zeroed in on Captain Amarinder Singh and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa as new allies to fill the space vacated by the Shiromani Akali Dal to promote its divisive discourse in Punjab, said a statement by the Chief Minister's Office.
Commenting on the disclosure by Union Home Minister Amit Shah that the BJP was finalising alliance with Amarinder Singh and break away Akali faction leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, he asserted, "Punjab is one state that rebutted the anti-people and divisive agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Punjab in 2019," added the statement.
"The BJP used the Akali Dal in its anti-farmer agenda to implement the three black laws that the secular Kisan struggle has forced Modi to repeal. The Shiromani Akali Dal had aggressively supported these legislations. Now Capt Amarinder Singh would function as the full-time tool of the BJP to implement its nefarious anti-people designs," stated the statement.
The Chief Minister pointed out that earlier, the Akali Dal functioned as the vehicle of the BJP to facilitate its parent organisation RSS to spread its wings in Punjab and this body went to the extent of distorting even the Sikh history and thought and the literature brought out by this body about a decade ago is evidence of that agenda. The Akali Dal never protested.
Mr Channi stated that the Akali Dal extended full support to the BJP in its policies of centralisation and cultural homogenisation despite being a votary of federalism for decades.
The interests of Punjab were mortgaged to the BJP by the Akali Dal first under the leadership of Parkash Singh Badal who had paved the way for this alliance by extending unconditional support to Atal Bihari Vajpayee to form BJP-led government in 1996 that lasted only 13 days.
Mr Badal had betrayed Punjab and the Punjabis by extending unconditional support. That was a sell-out by Badal of Punjab.
He said now Amarinder Singh was all set to perform that malicious role who had been all along as the chief minister coming to the rescue of the Modi government on crucial issues and in promoting anti-people agenda.
Amarinder Singh replacing Shiromani Akali Dal as BJP ally was no surprise keeping in view his role to help BJP all along, he added.