Congress launches campaign in Punjab

By Sarabjit Pandher

DAKALA (Patiala), JAN. 3. Though there is still a year to go for completion of the scheduled tenure of the present Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance government in Punjab, the State unit of the Congress party today launched its election campaign from this remote town of Patiala district. The party promised to restore the ``smile'' on every face in the State which, it alleged, had been snatched by the misrule of the present dispensation.

Addressing a rally here, the president of the Punjab unit of the party, Capt. Amarinder Singh, announced amid applause that if the Congress assumed power in the State, its first decision would be to institute a high level probe into the acts of omission and commission by the Chief Minister, members of his family and the coterie. He promised action against those Akali Ministers and legislators who had unleashed repression on the people through their high handedness. ``We shall teach these unscrupulous politicians the way to behave in a democracy and civilised world,'' he said listing a few names of legislators who had gone scot free even after serious violations of law.

Scoffing the claims of the Chief Minister regarding the achievements of his government in the last four years, Capt. Amarinder Singh said that the only contribution of the Badal government was that it had let loose unprecedented corruption on the helpless people of the State. He accused the Chief Minister, his family and colleagues along with those closely associated with him of committing treachery. ``These persons in power have amassed hundreds of crores, when people in the state do not get a decent means of livelihood,'' he added.

He had Mr. Badal's government performed well on any front and mitigated the miseries of even a single section of society, he would not have been organising ``Sangat Darshan'' programmes, where he was attempting to impress people by disbursing grants for development programmes, which had been halted for the last four years. He ridiculed Mr. Badal for christening the last year of his tenure as the ``year of development'' by asking, ``What was he doing in the previous four years. Is a Chief Minister not committed to development then?''

Capt. Amarinder Singh said it was during the regime of the present government that the Punjabi farmers, who took pride for feeding the nation, were made to face the most miserable conditions. He asked the State Government to explain the status of the Rs. 350 crore which was to be paid as relief to farmers who had made distress sales of paddy in the recent season. He quoted from studies by experts to disclose that faced with an extremely difficult situation, at least 400 young farmers were on an average committing suicides.

Referring to a study conducted by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Capt. Amarinder Singh said the annual income of a farmer owning 2.5 acres was a meagre Rs. 15,000, while a daily wage earner gets Rs. 24,000. He said while 52 per cent of the State's farmers own 2.5 acres or less, the plight of the 33 lakh landless agricultural labourers could be well imagined.

Instead of working out a comprehensive plan for development of the infrastructure required for the improvement in the performance, production and efficiency of the farm and industrial sectors and trade, and linking it with the welfare of the labour class, down trodden sections and women, the Badal government has found an escape route by creating unfounded doubts in the minds of the people over the issue of WTO, he said.

Capt. Amarinder Singh assured the people that his party would not rest ``till we get rid of this non-performing and corrupt government, which has only brought misery to our State.'' He cautioned the people that as the ruling alliance in the state had no issue with which it go to the people, it had resorted to diversionary tactics by launching a misinformation programme to mislead and spread panic among the people.

The other speakers, among whom were the leader of the opposition, Mr. Jagjit Singh, the MP representing the local Patiala parliamentary constituency, Mrs. Parneet Kaur, general secretaries, Mr. Bir Devinder Singh and Mr. Jasbir Singh, sought to present Capt. Amarinder Singh as the party's candidate for the post of the Chief Minister. Later a similar function was organised in Ghanur, while Capt. Amrinder Singh said that the party planned to cover six constituencies every week, after which block level and later village level functions would be initiated.

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