Lashing out at the former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal over his “atrocious” accusations, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said it was not him but the Akali veteran who was trying to sabotage the interests of the Sikh community, and Punjab, with his “injudicious” statement.
Reacting to Badal’s allegation that Amarinder was trying to sabotage the Kartarpur Corridor, Chief Minister said that Akali leader’s statement was in line with his approach of exploiting religious issues to further his political interests.
“The former Chief Minister is once again trying to mislead the people of Punjab with his baseless allegations. It is the Congress leadership, from Indira Gandhi to Dr Manmohan Singh, that had always striven for the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, and I myself have been raising the issue with Pakistan as well as the Central Government on various occasions,” the Chief Minister pointed out.
As a Sikh, he himself had always aspired for the opening of the historic corridor with the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, with which his own family had historic ties, Amarinder said, adding “it is idiotic, in the circumstances, to suggest that I could try to block the corridor and sabotage the fulfilment of the aspirations of the Sikh community”.
“In fact, I am proud of the fact that the Punjab Government, under my command, had worked closely with the Central Government on the opening of the Kartarpur corridor,” he added.
He said the Punjab Government had worked closely with the Centre in successfully overcoming many and strong security concerns and infrastructural challenges in opening up the India-Pakistan border in the face of huge dangers posed by the Pakistani State and its agencies, said the Chief Minister.
The Punjab Government was able to assure and convince the Central Government that the security concerns and challenges could be met with the required checks and balances, which could be built into the system and security regime, he added.
“By choosing to close his eyes to the harsh and sad reality of the Pakistan threat, Badal Senior has once again shown he is least concerned about the people’s welfare and is only bothered about the political gains he could make from the opening of the Corridor, which his party had been trying to take undue credit for,” the CM added.
While it was a dream for him to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, he could not turn a blind eye to the terror being perpetrated in his land by the ISI-backed forces, nor could he ignore the killings of innocent soldiers by the Pakistani Army, said the Chief Minister, adding Badal, as a veteran leader and former chief minister of Punjab, should be able to appreciate the many perils and dangers posed by Pakistan to the border State of Punjab and the Indian State.