Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 20: Even as the prime minister Narendra Modi claimed on Wednesday that his government has instilled confidence among the people in the country that it was possible to fight against corruption, his BJP party looked keen to join hands with yet to be formed political party in Punjab to be floated by the former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh whose Congress government was frequently attacked by the party for alleged corruption.
Modi who was virtually addressing a joint conference of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Gujarat’s Kevadiya Colony, Modi said his government, after hard work in the last six-seven years, had established faith among people that it was possible to fight corruption and that they would get benefits of various government schemes without the involvement of middlemen. He also claimed that the previous government did not have the will to fight corruption. Modi also said there should be no safe havens anywhere in the world for those committing crime against the country and its people.
In Punjab, the BJP general secretary and party’s Punjab in-charge Dushyant Gautam said his party was open to alliance with the party Amarinder Singh was planning to form. Capt. Singh was a “patriot” and the BJP was open to tie-ups with “nationalist forces.”
On Tuesday, Capt. Singh, who was forced by the Congress high command to quit the post last month, stated that he would soon announce his own political party and was hopeful of a seat arrangement with the BJP if the farmers’ issue was resolved in their interest.
On his condition of resolving farmers’ issues, Gautam noted that Capt. Singh had not spoken about ending the farmers’ agitation. “He talked about farmers’ issues. We are committed to it and are working for the welfare of farmers. If the time comes, both will sit together and discuss farmers’ issues,” he observed.
“Our main agenda is nationalism and keeping the nation first. All those parties who want to form alliances with us on this agenda are welcome.” Capt. Singh was once a soldier and his stand on the issues of national security should be praised. “He was a soldier. He knows about the threats to the country and how to secure it. He is patriotic. And whenever it is a matter of national security and security at the borders, we have appreciated his stand,” Gautam remarked, adding that nationalists were not “untouchables” to the BJP.
Senior sources in the party disclosed that one could anticipate a move towards resolving the long-running agitation of farmers against the three controversial farm laws. “Several options are being mulled in terms of a way out, including a new expanded committee of stakeholders to hold talks with farmers go into the nitty gritties of the demands by farmers,” a source explained.
Interestingly, Capt. Singh had met the union home minister Amit Shah and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval soon after he quit as Chief Minister. At that time, it was said he had spoken of the security challenges in the border State post the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, in another poll-bound state Uttar Pradesh, the Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was stopped by the UP police at the Lucknow-Agra Expressway while she was on her way to meet the family of Arun Kumar, a member of the backward Valmiki community who died in the police custody.
Priyanka tweeted, “Arun Valmiki died in police custody. His family is seeking justice. I want to visit family. What is the UP government afraid of? Why am I being stopped? Today is Lord Valmiki Jayanti, PM spoke big on Mahatma Buddha, but is acting against his message.”
Police said the Congress general secretary was stopped as the Agra district magistrate had requested not to allow any political personality to go there following the man’s death. She has neither been taken into custody nor arrested. Because of the massive crowds, the movement of traffic was being hampered and she was first asked to either go to the party office or her residence but when she did not agree, she was sent to the police lines,” Lucknow police commissioner D K Thakur said.
Congress spokesman had claimed that Priyanka Gandhi has been taken into custody while she was going to Agra to meet the family members of the sanitation worker who had died in police custody.
To a query from newspersons in Kushinagar on Priyanka Gandhi being stopped from going to Agra, the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier in the day said, “Law and order is supreme and no one will be allowed to play with it.”
While being taken to the police lines, the Priyanka Gandhi told newspersons that she will definitely go to Agra.
Arun, who was accused of stealing Rs 25 lakh from the Jagdishpura police station, died in police custody after his health deteriorated during interrogation, officials said on Wednesday.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Agra) Muniraj G said the accused, Arun, suddenly fell sick on Tuesday night while a raid was being carried out at his house to recover the stolen money. He was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead, he said.
Priyanka, who raised questions about his death in a tweet, left by road from the state capital to Agra to meet the Arun’s family but was stopped from proceeding by the Lucknow Police at the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, citing the Agra DM’s request to not allow any political person to reach there.
“Do I need somebody’s permission whenever I move out of Lucknow? Is there a problem why I am not being allowed to go to Agra, is there a law and order issue,” she asked policemen who stopped her cavalcade.
“Someone has died, how can it be a law and order issue? Ask the DM by calling him. It’s too much that I cannot go out anywhere and should remain confined in a guest house in Lucknow,” she told policemen when they showed her the message from the Agra district magistrate.
Congress workers reached the spot in large numbers and raised anti-government slogans.
Arun was accused of stealing the money on Saturday night from the ‘maalkhaana’ (a storage house where items confiscated by police are kept)” of the police station where he worked as a cleaner. Following the theft, six police personnel, including the station house officer, had been suspended by the additional director general (ADG) of Agra zone.
During the investigation, police rounded up several suspects. Arun was one of them as he had access to the ‘maalkhaana’.
He was arrested from the Taj Ganj locality in Agra on Tuesday. According to the police, Arun had shaved his head to hide his identity.
“Police teams were questioning several suspects in connection of the theft. On Tuesday, evening a man named Arun, who is a resident of the Lohamandi area, was taken into police custody,” the Agra SSP said. “During interrogation, Arun admitted that he had committed the theft and informed us that the stolen money was at his home,” he added. Police recovered Rs 15 lakh during the raid on his house before his health deteriorated and he died, the police claimed.
She was later allowed to proceed to Agra to visit Arun’s family members.