New Delhi : Asserting that the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had expressed genuine apprehensions about the Dalits, downtrodden & minorities in India during an address in the United States, the Congress today accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of blowing the issue out of proportion.
The party also demanded an FIR against the BJP leader Tarvinder Singh Marwah for threatening Rahul Gandhi with the same fate as that of his grandmother Ms Indira Gandhi. The party asked whether Marwah was speaking for the entire BJP leadership.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here on September 13, former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Partap Singh Bajwa, said that people of Punjab and Sikhs strongly endorsed what Gandhi said in the United States.
Channi pointed out, Gandhi had raised the genuine apprehension prevailing among the minorities, Dalits and the downtrodden about their safety and survival in the country and said, there was nothing wrong in that.
Bajwa referred to the series of events that have been taking place in the country during the last ten years. He said Punjab was being selectively targetted. He alleged that the BJP government was withholding grants worth thousands of crores to Punjab.
The senior Punjab Congress leaders pointed out how during the farmers’ agitation, the farmers were maligned and described as ‘Khalistanis’ and anti-nationals. Referring to an incident that took place 15-20 days ago, Bajwa said that four farm leaders were stopped at IGI airport and barred from boarding a Delhi-Tamil Nadu flight due to wearing short kirpans – their religious symbol. He added that such an incident had never taken place earlier in the country.
Countering the BJP leaders including Hardeep Singh Puri, Iqbal Singh Lalpura and Ravneet Singh Bittu for going out of the way to target Rahul Gandhi, Bajwa said, people of Punjab strongly agree with what he (Rahul Gandhi) said in the United States.
He took a dig at Bittu in particular, who deserted Congress just before the Lok Sabha elections to join the BJP, saying that Rahul Gandhi had done so much for him but he had not only let down Gandhi but his own family as well for a small ministerial position.
Replying to a question, Channi said the Congress party had apologised many times for what happened during 1984, whether the Operation Bluestar or the anti-Sikh riots.
At the same time, he referred to the senior BJP leader LK Advani’s own admission that the BJP had built up pressure on the Indira government for military action in Sri Darbar Sahib.
