‘Highly undemocratic’ – BJP on Punjab government’s decision to ban Faridkot ‘Pol Khol Rally’

Chandigarh, September 14, 2018: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has termed the decision of Capt Amarinder-led Congress government in the state to ban ‘Pol Khol Rally’ scheduled for Sept 16 at Faridkot as ‘highly undemocratic.’ Condemning the decision to ban the rally, Tarun Chugh, the national secretary of the party said the decision to ban the rally on filmsy grounds was in fact murder of democracy. Chugh said Amarinder government has cited the law and order problem for putting a ban on the rally of principal opposition alliance in the state even as it was claiming to hold upcoming Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls in a free, fair, independent and peaceful manner. The BJP leader said while the government was claiming to have grip over the law and order situation, it was strange that a political rally organized by the SAD has been banned. “Actually, the government is fearing backlash as it has surmounted a motivated and manipulated campaign against SAD on the basis of the report of Justice Ranjit Singh Commission. Finding that the report and the campaign unleashed after tabling the report in Vidhan Sabha has backfired, Amarinder government is now trying to muzzle the voice of Akali leadership who were unnecessarily and unfairly targeted during the smear campaign,” he said. Chugh said the government was in awe of SAD-BJP combine’s surging popularity in the state as it knows that the Congress’ graph has gone down badly in just one and a half year. He said, “The government first didn’t allow Akalis to put across their point in Vidhan Sabha by using the august office of Speaker, who offered only 14 minutes of time to the SAD while Congress and AAP MLAs got a chance to speak for nearly 10 hours.” Chugh said that Congress fears that the SAD and BJP would take lid off the Congress campaign based on Justice Ranjit Singh Commission. “Every party or individual has the right to defend their position on public forums. The SAD leaders have every right to go to the public and trash the baseless but serious allegations leveled against them by Congressmen including some senior ministers who were actually indulging in vendetta politics,” he said