Punjab Congress president said it was a complete failure of state government
The opposition in Punjab on Monday alleged a complete collapse of law and order in the state, saying "frightening" conditions are prevailing in the state.
Stepping up the attack on the AAP government over the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala, the Punjab Youth Congress also held a protest against the ruling party here.
Several protesters were detained when they tried to "gherao" the office of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) here.
The famous Punjabi singer and Congress leader Moose Wala was shot dead on Sunday by unidentified assailants in Punjab's Mansa district, a day after the state government pruned his security cover.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said a "frightening" atmosphere is prevailing across the state after the brutal daylight murder of Moosewala.
"Nobody is feeling safe as this government has left people at the mercy of criminals and gangsters who are killing people at their sweet will," he said in a statement here.
He said it was a "complete failure" of the government, particularly police, as they did not have any clue about the murder of a prominent figure. After meeting family members of the singer in Mansa, Warring said the way the murder was executed with so many people firing from different sides , it must have been duly planned in advance.
"What was the Punjab Police doing," he asked while adding that there might be so many people involved in the planning and execution of the murder and yet police could not get any inkling of the incident in advance.
Warring said the daring daylight assassination had created an atmosphere of fear and fright across the state among people who are not feeling safe anymore.
"Added to that was the DGP Punjab's admission that the killing was the handiwork of the gangsters," he said.
The DGP himself admits that the gangsters are in a position to execute such a daring assassination of such a prominent person without getting caught, he said.
The state Congress president reiterated his demand for the dismissal of the Aam Aadmi Party government, saying, "Bhagwant Mann has not just proved to be a failure but a complete disaster pushing the state to virtual anarchy." Warring warned in case the gangster culture is not nipped in the bud, "Punjab will turn into badlands like some other states of the country used to be in the past".
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh also hit out at the Bhagwant Mann-led government and said, "It has been a complete collapse of the AAP government's intelligence and security network that has been reflected in more than two dozen murder incidents involving public figures." Chugh said CM Mann, who holds the portfolio of Home affairs, owes an explanation to the state why information about security was made public.
"Are you looking for cheap publicity making the border state vulnerable to the Pakistan ISI designs," he asked. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said youth icon Moosewala would not have been lost but for the wrong decisions of the AAP government.
He said the chief minister had not only taken a unilateral decision to withdraw Moosewala's security but also advertised this fact on the AAP Facebook page by asserting that this was a victory against the VVIP culture.
"This kind of cheap politics is condemnable," said Badal.