Chandigarh, Jan 18 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Sunday said that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Talbir Singh Gill would be the party’s candidate from Majitha for the 2027 Assembly elections. He said the people would not allow any attempt to push Punjab back into beadbi (sacrilege) and ‘goondagardi’, and that development, dignity and respect for the Akal Takht Sahib would remain paramount. Addressing a public gathering after laying the foundation stone of 23 new rural link roads in Majitha town, CM Mann said, “Earlier, this area lived under constant fear. A self-proclaimed ‘jarnail’ of the region used false cases as a weapon against ordinary people.

With deep connections in both Congress and Akali governments, he unleashed a reign of terror, and people were afraid to speak.” He said this fear has now completely vanished, as the will of the people is prevailing and such politics has been decisively rejected. The Chief Minister said people have charted a new path by rejecting the politics of intimidation pursued by the Majithia and Badal families. He said, “This very Majitha area was once controlled by people who hosted General Dyer for dinner on the same day as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. Such acts of betrayal can never be forgotten. The people of Punjab will never forgive those whose hands were stained with the blood of the innocent masses.”

CM Mann warned that bringing the Akali Dal back to power would mean dragging Punjab back into a dark era. “It will mean the return of ‘beadbi’ (sacrilege) of Guru Granth Sahib, firing on innocent protestors and atrocities against the common man,” he said. He added it was due to the misdeeds of the Akalis and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that the state government was compelled to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the missing 328 ‘saroops’ of Guru Granth Sahib.

“Our only objective is to trace the missing ‘saroops’. We have no intention of interfering in religious institutions,” he said. CM Mann said it was unfortunate that instead of focusing on his primary responsibilities, SGPC President Harjinder Singh Mann was busy making arrangements for political rallies. “Instead of calling himself a soldier of Guru Gobind Singh, he proudly calls himself a soldier of Sukhbir Badal. What good can be expected from such a person, who takes pride in serving someone who ruined Punjab with his every move,” he said.

The Chief Minister said special attention is being paid to the welfare of border residents, whom he described as true patriots. “In a major relief to farmers in the border belt, the Central government has given in-principle approval to shift the border fence closer to the International Border,” he said, adding this would allow unhindered cultivation of thousands of acres currently lying beyond the fencing. CM Mann stated that he had raised the issue with the Union Home Minister, pointing out the daily hardships faced by farmers who were forced to cross the fence under BSF escort to reach their own fields along the 532-km India-Pakistan border.