The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 94

The International News Weekly INDIA
May 17, 2019 | Toronto 10
‘Punjabi bahu’ Priyanka takes
on SAD over sacrilege, drugs
Bathinda: All India
Congress Committee
(AICC) general secretary
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,
who called herself a “Punjabi
bahu”, on Tuesday,
ripped into the anti-people
policies of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and targeted
Shiromani Akali Dal,
BJP’s alliance partner in
Punjab, on issues of sacrilege
and misgovernance
during their 10-year-rule.
Touching on the emotive
sacrilege issue, Priyanka
said those who desecrated
the “birs” (copies) of
Guru Granth Sahib also destroyed
the soul of Punjab.
She said previous SAD-
BJP government had suppressed
and victimised people
of Punjab and destroyed
generations. Priyanka accused
the Akalis of “handing
over the state to drugs,
liquor, sand and transport
mafia during their 10-yearrule”.
“When my brother
Rahul Gandhi, sensing the
trouble in Punjab, raised
this issue, he was accused
of defaming Punjabis and
ridiculed, but later the
truth came out,” she pointed
out.
Priyanka also debunked
the claims of Akalis
and Modi about on development.
in the country having
taken place in the last
five years, saying that development
was witnessed
only during Congress rule
as was evident in Bathinda.
Referring to Modi `radars
in clouds’ remark,
Priyanka said Modi's truth
had come on the people’s
radar and he needed to
have his unfulfilled promises
on his radar. "It is time
to give Modi government
which has suppressed the
people’s voice be dealt a
crushing defeat. This is a
government that claims to
be nationalist while declaring
everyone raising their
voice for their rights to be
anti-nationals." .
Listing the unmet
promises of the Modi government
of providing 2
crore jobs and supplementing
farmers’ income, the
Congress leader pointed
out that unemployment
and poverty had in fact increased
in last five years.
“Thousands of farmers
reached Delhi and Mumbai
barefooted from various
states, but the PM could not
spare 5 minutes for them,"
she added.
Blaming the Modi government
for the twin blows
of demonetization and
GST, she said the Congress
believed in pursuing the
politics of truth and alleviating
poverty. It was in line
with this, she said that the
party had decided to come
up with NYAY — a “gamechanger
strategy” formulated
by former finance
ministers and economists.
Priyanka exhorted the
people to check the credentials
of candidates and
to choose Raja Warring,
who rose from the ranks of
Youth Congress.
Punjab chief minister
Amarinder Singh too exhorted
people to teach sitting
Bathinda MP Harsimrat
Badal a lesson for her
arrogance and defeat Akalis
everywhere.
Punjab finance minister
Manpreet Badal and
Raja Warring, too, called
upon people to show the
door to SADBJP in Punjab
and elsewhere to ensure
that Rahul becomes the
PM.
'Aam aadmi’ Kejriwal joins
morning walkers for tea,
selfies, jokes in Barnala
Barnala: Delhi chief
minister Arvind Kejriwal
on Tuesday morning campaigned
for party candidates
in Punjab by spending his
first morning in the state by
mingling freely with walkers
at Shaheed Bhagat Singh
Park here without any security
in between.
The interaction came a
day after he was criticized
for staying away from public
during his roadshow on
Monday.
The Delhi CM was
slapped last week during a
roadshow in Delhi and was
since surrounded by policemen.
Dressed in a casual
kurta-pyjama, Kejriwal first
strolled with morning walkers
and then reached Barnala
Club. He spent considerable
time with people and
club members.
Kejriwal started his Punjab
tour on Monday and will
be in the state till May 17,
when campaigning ends for
the last phase. Kejriwal happily
answered the queries of
people and even tough questions
which journalists usually
pose to politicians. He
also gave walkers reasons
for AAP losing Punjab assembly
polls in 2017, failure
of forging an alliance with
the Congress in Delhi and
Haryana, and the split in the
party.
Accompanied by AAP
Barnala MLA Gurmeet
Singh Meet Hayer, Kejriwal
said they were winning in
Punjab in 2017, but someone
floated a rumour that he
stayed at the home of a Khalistani
and this went against
the party. “I had no idea
where I had stayed,” he said.
Replying to a question
on his urge to align with the
Congress, he said he wanted
to stop the PM Narendra Modi-BJP
chief Amit Shah jodi
(partnership) from retaining
power. “Our alliance was almost
finalised in Delhi, but
Congress leaders backed out
at the last minute and the alliance
could not take shape,”
he said.
Replying to a query on
the vertical split in the party’s
state unit, Kejriwal said
it happened everywhere
and did not make much as
some people join the party
and some leave it. “Now two
MLAs have left us in Delhi,
but we are not worried,” he
said.
He clarified why he tendered
an apology to Akali
Dal MLA Bikram Singh
Majithia over calling him a
druglord. Kejriwal said he
was facing a lot of cases and
these were consuming his
energy.
In his customary style,
Kejriwal apologized the people
at the park for “disturbing
their stroll”.
Kejriwal asked people to
make party candidate Bhagwant
Mann win, saying that
he made a mark in Parliament
by raising several issues
concerning Punjab and
making Parliament pay tributes
to the Sahibzadas (sons)
of 10th Sikh master Guru
Gobind Singh. The Delhi
Cm said Mann also ensured
that Punjabis stuck in foreign
countries were brought
back. Later, he took out road
show towards Sangrur.
Barnala resident Sandeep
Malik said he had never
seen such humility in a chief
minister. “It was our first
encounter with such high
profile personality in such a
casual manner,” he said.
BJP will cross 300-mark
in Lok Sabha on own
steam, say Modi and Shah
New Delhi: With six phases of Lok Sabha polls
over, PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah
exuded confidence that the ruling party would win
over 300 seats and form the next government at the
Centre with two-thirds majority. Shah, in fact, said
BJP had crossed the majority mark on its own steam
after the six phases of polling .
“After the fifth and sixth phase of elections, it is
evident that BJP is going to get majority and after the
seventh phase, it is bound to cross 300 seats,” Shah
said.
Modi was equally upbeat and told a rally in West
Bengal, “BJP will get majority of the 42 parliamentary
seats in the state and help it cross the 300-mark
in Lok Sabha.” While the PM has often expressed confidence
of his party returning to power, this was the
first time he actually said BJP’s tally would cross 300,
a significant improvement on the party’s haul of 282
seats in the 2014 elections.
The seventh and last phase of polling is due on
May 19. A party needs to win 272 seats for absolute
majority. Addressing a press conference here, Shah
said, “You (media) keep asking me how many seats
we will win. I have travelled across the country and
looking at the popular response, I am fully confident
that BJP after fifth and sixth phase of elections has
crossed the majority figure. It is going to cross 300 after
the seventh phase and the NDA under PM Narendra
Modi will form the government again.”
Mocking the proposed meeting of opposition leaders
and moves by some regional parties like TRS to
form a Federal Front, Shah said such meetings did
not affect BJP whose tally of seats would not come
down. “They may meet to elect a leader of opposition
but results even this time may not give any party
enough number of seats to choose a leader of opposition
from its ranks,” he added.