Everyone has to pay for their crimes: Punjab CM

Zira (Punjab), May 7 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday vowed to make everyone pay for their crimes, including for the desecration of the holy scriptures to create a communal divide to woo Sikh votes during their rule.

Addressing an election rally here in support of Congress candidate Jasbir Singh Dimpa from Khadoor Sahib, Singh sought votes for the party to protect the nation from the "divisive" Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their allies such as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and also to safeguard India from security threats at the border.

He said Inspector General Kunwar Vijay Pratap, who was transferred by the Election Commission under pressure of the Badals exerted through the Centre, would be back in the Special Investigating Team to complete the probe on May 29, the day the code of conduct is lifted.

If former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is found guilty, he will go behind the bars, said Singh, asking the Akali supremo: "How long do you think you can save yourself from the consequences of your actions?"

Pointing out that there had not been a single case of sacrilege under the Congress government, the Chief Minister said it was obvious that the desecrations during the Akali rule were deliberately triggered to divide voters on communal lines.

Citing the total devastation of Punjab during the BJP-SAD rule, Singh called on the people to strengthen the Congress and let the Badals know where the Sikhs and Punjab stand today.

Punjab wants to get rid of the Badals and the only way to do it in a democracy is to vote them out, he said, adding that he would personally go to Ferozepur and Bathinda to turn the tide against SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Lashing out at the misuse of the SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) and Akal Takht by the Badals for political gains, Singh stressed the need to send all 13 Congress candidates to the Lok Sabha to ensure that the SGPC elections, now due, were conducted without delay.

Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's divisive politics, the Chief Minister warned that he would ruin the country completely if he was voted to a second term.

India was facing threats from all sides but Modi can only think in terms of "my fauj" (army), which Singh dismissed as crap and reiterated that the armed forces do not belong to the Prime Minister.

Punjab will vote in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 19.