CHANDIGARH: There was uproar on the opening day of the budget session of Punjab assembly on Friday as the opposition tried to corner the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over alleged deteriorating law and order in the state. Congress and BJP MLAs also staged a walkout demanding an adjournment motion on the issue.
Zero hour was overshadowed by Congress protesting against the rejection of the adjournment motion moved by the party over the “burning issue” on the ground that the matter was sub judice. Congress MLAs trooped to the well of the House and raised slogans and were joined in by other parties – BJP, SAD and BSP. This was followed by Congress and BJP MLAs staging a walkout, while SAD and BSP members stayed back.
Leader of opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa said since senior politicians were getting threat calls, separate time of 25-30 minutes be fixed for discussion on law and order. “The adjournment motion has been disallowed on the ground that it is sub judice. How can the entire law and order issue be sub judice?... If the head of the state himself concedes that his life is in danger then there is reason for everyone to be perturbed. The life of the CM is dear to us,” he said.
The Congress also referred to a statement by chief minister Bhagwant Mann, while campaigning in Sangrur that he too had received threats to life and demanded he give a statement.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira said it was not just the CM, but doctors, commission agents, sarpanches too had been getting ransom calls and many of them had even paid money out of fear. “They are getting calls from unknown numbers and some of these have not even been reported to police,” he said.
Reacting to the speaker telling him that he was an experienced member and should cooperate, Bajwa said, “What good will be the experience if I am shot in the evening… There is nothing more precious than one’s life. Let’s have a discussion. Why should the government run away from it? Every single Punjabi is disturbed.”
Congress MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said apart from party leaders, many others were getting threats. Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, however, asked Congress MLAs to make zero hour fruitful and the opposition will get ample time for discussion later. He also assured the opposition that the CM will give a clarification on Saturday. Congress MLA Barindermeet Singh Pahra said no industrialist would want to invest in Punjab given the law and order in the state.
SAD MLA Dr Sukhwinder Kumar too raised the issue of law and order. He said no representative of the SC community was included in the seven Rajya Sabha members nominated by the AAP recently.
Aman Arora defends govt
Speaking on the governor’s address, AAP MLA tried to defend his party’s government on the law and order issue citing the National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB) figures of murders in the state, claiming that the figures in the previous two years – 50 murders this year, 60 in 2021 and 65 in 2020. “There have been incidents like the murder of Sidhu Moose Wala. But I want to ask the opposition if the law and order situation was because of the AAP government of three months. Sophisticated weapons have come to the state from across the border and it is the responsibility of central agencies,” he said. He added that cases like Bargari firing case, Maur bomb blast case RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja were unresolved and sub judice.
