The Congress on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, obsessed with his personal image and electoral victories, always used petty tricks to win political battles and this tendency was again manifested in the politicisation of the incident in Punjab.
The Punjab government has constituted a committee to examine the whole affair. The probe committee, which includes retired judge Mehtab Singh Gill and principal secretary of home affairs Anurag Verma, will submit its report in three days.
The Congress leadership focused on the Prime Minister’s proclivity to indulge in “tamasha” for political gains without considering how his actions would affect the country’s image.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said: “If what is reported in the media — that Modi said ‘thank your chief minister as I returned alive’ — is true, it doesn’t behove a Prime Minister. What is the message he was sending out? That India is a banana republic? That India’s security agencies aren’t capable of defending the Prime Minister? That a Prime Minister who feels secure in Pakistan during an unscheduled visit doesn’t feel safe in Punjab?”
The party cited several examples to emphasise that Prime Ministers had behaved with greater maturity and responsibility in the past.
Khera said: “In 1982, jobless youths stopped Indira Gandhi’s cavalcade in Lucknow. She called them to Raj Bhavan and talked to them. On September 22, 2017, Modi was on a tour of his constituency Varanasi. Hundreds of BHU girls were protesting. Senior police officers talked to the students but they didn’t relent. The Prime Minister took a different route. Did he thank chief minister Yogi Adityanath for being able to return alive?”
His cavalcade once lost its way in Gautam Buddh Nagar. A constable was suspended. Did he taunt the chief minister?
Khera added: “On September 15, 2018, Modi was caught in a traffic jam in Delhi. The BJP posted his photograph, waiting for clearance, and projected it as his simplicity, end of VIP culture. Did he tell chief minister Arvind Kejriwal ‘thank you’ for returning alive?… But he (Modi) chose to vilify a Dalit chief minister because he belongs to the Congress. This is a dangerous controversy and undermines India’s image as a mature democracy.”
Khera recalled what Modi did to whip up sympathy in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly election, saying: “He said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former army chief Deepak Kapoor, former Vice-President Hamid Ansari and diplomats and officials were involved with Pakistan in hatching a plot against him…. The BJP’s then Rajya Sabha leader, Arun Jaitley, had to tender an unconditional apology in Parliament for this lie. Modi can’t spare even a former Prime Minister and an ex-army chief. He has no concern for India’s image. His sole obsession is his image and election victories.”
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said: “The responsibility for the Prime Minister’s security lies with the SPG and the Intelligence Bureau. The state police only follow the SPG’s instructions. The SPG should disclose why the Prime Minister was allowed to take a two-hour journey by road despite the knowledge of farmers’ protests?
“The chief minister of Punjab has said the SPG was informed of the farmers’ protests. This is a serious issue and the responsibility of the SPG and the IB should be fixed instead of (playing a) political blame game. Attacking (Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh) Channi lessens the gravity of the matter.”
Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu also described the entire episode as a ploy to give a bad name to Punjab. “Lakhs of farmers sat on the road outside Delhi for one year but the media didn’t create any noise. The Prime Minister has to wait for 15 minutes and there is a howling protest. So much noise. Why this double standard? Mr Prime Minister, this drama won’t help. This is to defame Punjab. This is to vitiate the atmosphere,” he said.
Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi said at a rally in Machhiwara: “Punjabis have never ever shied away from making sacrifices for the nation and none can question their nationalist credentials. The Prime Minister went back without addressing the rally because there were barely 700 people. But the blame was laid at the doors of the state government, citing a security threat to Modi. The truth is that five days before the scheduled rally, the SPG took over the landing spot, the rally site and every security detail.”
Channi added: “…The Prime Minister’s cavalcade suddenly changed the plan and took a land route. If there was any danger to the Prime Minister, then every Punjabi was nationalist enough to shed his blood and face bullets as they have done before in the service of the nation. Stop defaming Punjab. The anti-Punjab forces should shun vendetta politics and ponder over why the people, especially farmers, don’t like them.”
The Congress laid stress on the larger issue of the Prime Minister’s conduct.
Khera said: “Who started politicisation of the incident? The Prime Minister, followed by the BJP and the friendly media…. Suppose there was a problem. The Prime Minister would have responded differently, there were several options. But Modi chose to malign Punjab instead of behaving in the manner that befits the mighty office of India’s Prime Minister.”
He added: “A leader with 303 MPs chose to play with India’s image and claimed a sinister conspiracy was afoot to defame Punjab. A community is being demonised. The world is watching. Everybody knew farmers are protesting against the Prime Minister’s visit. Security agencies were aware of the protests. But the Prime Minister can’t give time to the police to clear the road. He won’t take another route. He decided to return and malign the chief minister by dreaming up a threat to his life.”
