A delegation of SAD-BJP combine submitted a memorandum to the Governor urging him to take preventive action to stop Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh from “taking Punjab back into an era of darkness by encouraging radical elements who were hell bent on breaking the country and destroying the hard won peace and communal harmony of the state”.

Lambasting the Chief Minister, SAD president Sukhbir Badal accused him of trying to push Punjab into the dark days of militancy by “encouraging radical elements” which are hell bent on dividing the country and disturb the hard-earned peace in the State.

“About 25-30 years back, people could not come out of their houses…During terrorism, thousands of people lost lives, industry fled, business destroyed. At that time, there was an atmosphere of terror. Amarinder is creating similar atmosphere now,” he said.

He added Amarinder was bringing those forces forward which had only single agenda of dividing the country and disturb peace in Punjab. “Twenty five years back, Congress had raised such forces to create a rift between Hindus and Sikhs and that pushed Punjab into dark days. Similar forces are being supported by Amarinder just to weaken the Akali Dal,” he added.

Sukhbir, who was leading a joint delegation of SAD-BJP along with BJP state president Shwait Malik, apprised the Governor of recent developments, including uncovering of a plot by the Uttar Pradesh Police to eliminate former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. “This is a direct fallout of the support extended to radical elements by the Congress in Punjab,” he said.

Citing the example of a protest by a handful of Congress-sponsored protesters outside the ‘pandal’ of a religious congregation at Nikke Ghumni village in Gurdaspur on Sunday, Sukhbir said that the police failed to even take custody of the miscreants who were apprehended and handed over to them.

He claimed that on October 5, when radical elements attacked his cavalcade in Sangrur district, they were facilitated by the police who later tried their best not to take action against them.

Punjab BJP chief Shwait Malik said that the Congress was “playing with fire” in the same manner as was done by its leadership in the mid-80s which resulted in the advent of terrorism in the state, and the “SAD-BJP combine would not let anyone disturb Hindu-Sikh unity in the State”.