Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 7: In the same style as Narendra Modi when he was the Gujarat chief minister termed every criticism of him as an “attack on the Gujarat pride,” the Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi has sought to turn against the BJP its workers’ nation-wide prayer meetings for “long life of Modi.”
This was even as the Punjab police on Friday registered an FIR against 150 unidentified people in a case related to the blocking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy on a flyover on way to Ferozepur to address a BJP rally and had to turn back cancelling the event. The FIR has been registered against the accused under Section 283 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Campaigning for the Punjab election due by March, Channi hit out at the BJP’s allegations of endangering PM Modi’s life with “murderous intentions.” Firing back at the Centre over the alleged security breach, Channi claimed that the hue and cry raised over the issue by the BJP was a “deep conspiracy” to impose central rule in the state ahead of elections.
“It is a deep conspiracy to defame Punjab and Punjabiyat. It is an attempt to vitiate the situation in the state. It is an attempt to impose President’s Rule in Punjab,” Channi said. “They made such a huge allegation on Punjab and Punjabis and portrayed us as killers. We are nationalists. We have fought in several wars for the country and many of us have died in the line of duty. I have already said I would be the first to take a bullet for the Prime Minister. What else should I do? Slash my wrist and bleed out?” – said the furious leader, who took charge of the Punjab Congress government four months ago.
“Where was the threat to his life? Nobody was within a kilometre of you. No stone was thrown, no bullet was fired, no slogans were raised. How can you say ‘I made it alive’! Such a sensitive statement from such a big leader. People voted you as Prime Minister – you should make responsible statements. You are saying we want to kill our Prime Minister.”
Channi accused the BJP of propagating a false story of what went down on Wednesday when Modi’s route was blocked by protesters. The Chief Minister alleged that Modi had, all along, planned to turn back to hide the poor turnout at his rally. “Actually, the PM had intended to turn around after 10 km because 70,000 chairs were put at the venue but not even 700 showed up. All chairs were empty. They felt it was better to make a u-turn 10 km before the venue. How petty they are! Just to ensure that empty chairs are not shown on TV they made up this new thing – ‘the PM is in danger, he survived, mrityunjay jaap happening everywhere… Why are you taking the country on the wrong path? We are nationalists. Every time elections come you suddenly remember nationalism and pretend to be nationalists,” Channi said.
While the chief minister launched the political attack on the BJP and Modi, the Punjab government submitted a report to the central government saying an FIR has been lodged in the matter.
According to sources, the three-member committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday, is seeking details about the sequence of events that unfolded during the PM’s visit on January 5. After visiting the flyover in question near Ferozepur, team began its inquiry into the security lapse which caused the PM’s convoy to remain stranded at the flyover for almost 15-20 minutes on Wednesday. The Central team has summoned several senior police and civil officers including those who were deployed for PM’s security during his Ferozepur visit and asked them to appear in person.
Punjab government’s Chief Secretary informed the Union Home Ministry that an FIR regarding the security breach has been registered. He is also learnt to have shared details pertaining to the sequence of events that unfolded on Wednesday, official sources in the state said.