CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal today asked the PPCC Chief Partap Singh Bajwa to secure an unconditional apology from the UPA Chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to the people of Punjab for the anti-Sikh and anti-Punjab notification on agricultural lands in Gujarat issued by her party’s government in that state in 1973.
The SAD also wanted to know why no Congress leader, including Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa , had ever taken the issue up with Gujarat Government, including those formed by the Congress party, although the problem had been lingering since 1973. In a statement here, senior Akali leader and SAD Secretary General Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said that it was Chief Minister Chiman Bhai Patel of the Congress party’s government in Gujarat who had issued the notification in 1973, denying the ownership rights of agricultural land to Sikhs and Punjabi farmers.
“When it comes to Gujarat, Bajwa somehow makes news for all the wrong
reasons”:Dhindsa
Modi’s assurance to Punjabi farmers has unnerved the congress
This was just a continuation of the policies of the Congress party which could not brook the sight of Sikhs and Punjabis anywhere in the other country. This mindset had led to the tragic climax of 1984 massacre of Sikhs in Delhi and several Congress ruled states in the country. In an uncharacteristic aside, Mr. Mr. Dhindsa took a sharp jibe at the PPCC Chief. “ We all know that when it comes to Gujarat." Mr. Bajwa somehow manages to make news for all the wrong noises. When he went to Gujarat during Captain Amrinder Singh’s regime, he made news of a highly entertaining variety. He was reportedly busy with activities which made excellent and spicy copy for the local and Punjab newspapers.
protection to roughly 248 Sikh families who had gone and settled in the Kuchh areas of that state after the Pakistan armoured divisions crossed the international border during the 1965 war. He further said that out of total 784 families settled in Kutch, 245 belonged to Punjab, 88 to Gujarat and 451 from other states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and some other parts of the country. Elaborating the issue, Mr. Dhindsa said that according to the notification, no one – not even a Gujarati – non-agriculturist can purchase agricultural land in that state. Further, no outsider can purchase land, irrespective of his status as farmer. The issue now was pending before the Supreme Court.
This has obviously unnerved the Congress, especially the PPCC chief as Mr. Modi’s assurance sharpens the contrast between the way the Congress always treat the Punjabis and the Sikhs and the way Mr. Mod is handling the sensitive issue. Mr. Dhindsa advised Mr. Bajwa to secure a belated apology from Ms. Sonia Gandhi to the Punjabis for the anti-Punjabi and anti-Sikh notification issued by her party’s government in 1973.