BJP-led Centre, AAP govt responsible for ‘deteriorating’ law and order situation in Punjab: Cong

PTI, Feb 25, 2023, 7:16 PM IST

The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP-led Centre and the AAP government in Punjab of being responsible for the ”deteriorating” law and order situation in the state and alleged they were working in collusion.

The Congress’ reaction came after radical preacher Amritpal Singh’s supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, broke though barricades and stormed into a police station complex in Ajnala on Thursday, camping there till they were ”assured” that Singh’s arrested aide would be released.

Singh’s aide and kidnapping accused Lovepreet Singh ‘Toofan’ walked out of jail Friday.

A large police force kept a watch but refrained from taking any action as the preacher, often described as a Khalistan sympathiser, and other protesters stayed put at the Ajnala police station for hours.

”First, we want to ask Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann…on one hand you are holding an investment summit and on the other near the border disinvestment is happening. If such a situation arises how investments will come,” Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said at a press briefing on the sidelines of the Congress’ 85th plenary session here.

”This is a complete failure and I want to assure the people of Punjab that the Congress was standing with them, is standing with them and those forces that want to weaken Punjab and India, we will stand strongly against them,” said Bajwa flanked by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh and other leaders from Punjab.

He alleged that the central and state governments are working in collusion and are responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that the Centre wants that Punjab’s situation deteriorates and it is able to establish its rule there and it is able to establish itself dominantly.

A local court ordered Toofan’s discharge from Amritsar Central Jail, basing its decision on an appeal filed by the police. In a volte-face, the police had submitted that their investigations did not indicate that Toofan was at the spot where the alleged abduction took place.

Critics see Toofan’s release as a sign of the state’s Aam Aadmi Party government succumbing to pressure from Sikh radicals.