DW BUREAU / Patiala/Chandigarh

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann campaigned for AAP candidate Dr Balbir Singh in Patiala on Wednesday. He addressed a huge public rally in Patiala and appealed to the people to help the Aam Aadmi Party win by 13-0.

During his speech, Chief Minister Mann tore into Captain Amarinder Singh. He said that during the Mughal Empire his family was with them. Then during British rule they were with the Britishers. Then he was with Akali Dal and the Congress according to who was ruling Punjab. Now he is with the BJP.

He alleged that the Patiala state was created by Ahmed Shah Abdali because Captain's ancestor Ala Singh had told on the Khalsa group that looted Abdali's convoy. He said that some Khalsa group's people used to loot Ahmed Shah Abdali's convoy and distribute his looted things among the poor. Captain's ancestor Ala Singh had told Abdali the names of those people and Abdali killed them. As a reward Abdali gave the Patiala state to Ala Singh's son.

Mann also attacked Akali leader Bikram Majithia and Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa. He said that on the evening of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, General Dyer had dinner at Bikram Majithia's house. How can we expect loyalty to Punjab from such people! At the same time, Pratap Singh Bajwa is very restless to become the Chief Minister, but the Congress broke his dream of becoming the Chief Minister.

Attacking Sukhbir Badal, he said that Sukh Vilas Hotel is built with the blood and sweat of the people of Punjab. There is a pool next to each room of that hotel. He said that we will take Sukh Vilas under the control of the Punjab government and convert it into a school. It will be the first school with pools in every classroom.

Mann also lambasted Prime Minister Modi and BJP. He said that there are about 6 lakh words in the Hindi dictionary, but PM Modi only speaks eight to ten words like Hindu-Muslim, temple-mosque, Pakistan and graveyard. He never speaks on problems like inflation, unemployment, poverty and hunger.

He said that it is very shameful that after being the Prime Minister for ten years, he is asking for votes in the name of Mangalsutra. He said that the BJP does the politics of hatred. It wants to take votes from people by scaring them in the name of caste and religion. It is also trying to divide Punjab, but the people of Punjab never tolerate the politics of hatred. Punjab is known for communal harmony. People here celebrate Gurpurabs, Eid, Holi, Diwali and Navami together. BJP's politics of hatred can never succeed here.

Mann said that we do the politics of work. In the last two years, I have given government jobs to 43000 youth, opened 830 Mohalla clinics, in which about 1.5 crore people have been treated so far. I told the Health Minister that there should not be any hospital in Punjab which does not have an X-ray machine, testing lab and medicines. No patient should have to go out of the hospital for testing and medicines. We have given the responsibility of this to the Chief Medical Officer of all the hospitals, so that there is no laxity.

For the progress of the farmers of Punjab, we have provided canal water to 59 percent of the farming land of Punjab. When I became the Chief Minister in March 2022, only 21 percent of the fields were getting canal water. By October, we will provide canal water to 70 percent of the farms, after which about 6 lakh tube wells in Punjab will become useless. Then the government will save about 5000 to 6000 crore rupees. With that money, we will give Rs 1000 every month to our mothers and sisters. We will fulfill all our guarantees. He said that we are also working very hard to bring industry to Punjab. So far, investments of about Rs 70,000 crore have been made in Punjab, which has provided employment to about three lakh youth. He said that we have already spoken to the tomato sauce manufacturing company 'Kisan'. It needs 10,000 metric tons of tomatoes, of which it imports nine and a half thousand metric tons from outside. We got a proposal prepared for it from PAU so that good quality tomatoes can be grown here in Punjab. Then the farmers here will benefit from tomato cultivation and crop diversification will also be encouraged.

Apart from this, for the convenience of the industry, we have freed it from all the paperwork. We have issued a green stamp for the industry, in which all the paperwork is done together and the businessmen do not have to run around government offices. At the same time, we have made a red stamp for private colonies, so that no illegal colony can be built in future.

Addressing the public, AAP candidate Dr Balbir Singh thanked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and all the people attending this jan sabha. He said that the central government is withholding funds worth about Rs 12,000 crore of Punjab. After winning, we will raise our voice against this in Parliament and get all the withheld funds of Punjab released.
(editor@dailyworld.in)