Kejriwal doesn't care who 'lives or dies', AAP must be kept out of Punjab: Captain Amarinder Singh

Accusing AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal of promoting extremist forces like Khalistan Commando Force in Punjab, Congress state chief Amarinder Singh today said the bomb blast in Maur Mandi of Bathinda showed that the terror cells of the Khalistanis were again getting active. Kejriwal, who had allegedly stayed at a KCF extremist's house in Punjab, was fanning terror forces through his actions, led by the dangerous mix of the AAP extreme left and extreme right ideologies, he said. Amarinder said, "Pakistan's spy agency ISI was waiting for such opportunities, triggered by extremist violence in India, to strike at the nation."

"Fascist forces" like AAP and the Akali Dal, whose leader Parkash Singh Badal was to be blamed for the "increasing incidents of religious sacrilege" in the state, could go to any extent to "grab power", he said.

"The Maur bomb blast in Bathinda, in which five persons were killed, including two children, showed that the inoperative terror cells of the Khalistanis were again getting active," the PPCC president said.

Amarinder said he had been repeatedly cautioning the Election Commission about entry of more than 40,000 outsiders, brought in by AAP from states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, but the poll body failed to take any action.

Replying to a question, he said blame for the incident went to Kejriwal, who had been encouraging fascism and even if AAP is not "directly involved" in the explosion, it was clearly promoting extremist ideology and forces.

"Kejriwal obviously does not care who lives or dies," Amarinder said stressing the need to keep "AAP out of Punjab". "The AAP leader seemed not to realise the implications of such actions, the Punjab Congress president said, adding Kejriwal will soon discover that "if you play with fire you are also bound to get burnt."

He said, "Information revealed that two bombs had been planted in Maur to explode during the roadshow of the Congress candidate, but, fortunately, the second one did not go off." He expressed his sympathies with the families of the victims.

Attacking Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for allegedly promoting fascism, Amarinder said he was responsible for the growing incidents of sacrilege in the state.

"This was not impossible considering that even the RSS was found to be involved in the 1984 riots," he claimed.

He alleged the Nabha jail break was also engineered by the Badals, who were trying desperately to "disrupt" the poll process as they are facing imminent defeat and wanted to spread fear among the electorate by letting loose armed gangs to pressurise the people into voting for the Akalis. 

He also lashed out at the "malicious propaganda" attributing certain anti-NRI statements to him, clarifying that his tag of "outsiders" was only for AAP leaders who did not belong to the state and the supporters brought in by Arvind Kejriwal to handle his party's poll campaign. Amarinder said it was clearly an attempt to malign him ahead of the Assembly polls on February 4.

He was interacting with reporters here last night and responding to questions about certain reports doing the rounds on the social media alleging that Amarinder had denounced NRIs as aliens to Punjab and had vowed not to allow them to enter the state once he becomes the chief minister. Dismissing the reports as "atrocious and blatantly fake", he said they were quite evidently being circulated by "vested interests" seeking to isolate the NRIs, "most of whom were staunch supporters of the Congress".

"Hundreds of NRIs have come to Punjab specially to campaign for the Congress in the assembly polls," he added. The Congress' chief ministerial candidate expressed dismay at the level to which certain political parties and their leaders were "stooping in order to grab power in Punjab by hook or by crook". "Many of us in Punjab have family members and relatives staying abroad for decades. Most of them shifted there for work. But there roots remain here, and they continue to be part of our families," Amarinder said, asserting that there was no question of even contemplating barring NRIs from entering their native land.

"The disinformation campaign had clearly been launched in an attempt to erode the NRI support base of the Congress but such attempts will not mislead the people," the PPCC chief said. Observing that Congress had always worked for the welfare of the NRIs, Amarinder pointed out that the party manifesto included several provisions to protect the interests of the NRI community. Amarinder said he is personally committed to ensuring fulfillment of all promises made to the NRIs in the manifesto.