Chandigarh:Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab leader and Cabinet Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal on Wednesday strongly targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statements on the recent incident in Dirba. He said that Congress and other opposition parties are doing politics over a tragic incident instead of understanding the feelings of the victim's family and the local people.
Mention of AAP government's action against drugs
Responding to Rahul Gandhi's social media post, Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal said, "Rahul Gandhi ji, you have talked about drugs and action against drugs, but I want to remind you that if any government in Punjab has taken decisive action against drugs, it is the AAP government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Your party came to power in 2017 with a promise to eliminate drug addiction within four weeks. Your government was for five years, what did you do in those five years?"
Questions on war level campaign and opposition politics
The minister said that the Bhagwant Mann government has launched a campaign against drugs on a war footing and now its concrete results are emerging. He questioned why the opposition was doing politics over a tragic incident when it had no concrete issue to raise against the government. He said, "Earlier you used to do politics in the name of religion and caste. Now when those issues failed, you have started doing politics over dead bodies. This is not the culture of Punjab."
Victim's family's decision and local opposition
Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal said that the victim's family had decided to perform the last rites of Gulzar Singh on their own free will, yet opposition leaders reached the spot and tried to politicize the matter. He said that the local people themselves protested against the presence of political leaders and asked them to leave. People made it clear that they have formed their own committee and will handle the matter themselves.
Accusations on previous governments and challenge to Rahul Gandhi
The minister further said that the drug problem in Punjab is the fault of the previous Congress and SAD-BJP governments, while the present AAP government is working to dismantle the network of drug smugglers. He said, "Rahul Gandhi ji, come to Punjab. Come to that village and see the situation yourself. Talk to people and understand what they want and what they are saying. The ground reality does not come out by sitting in Delhi and giving statements."
Race of opposition leaders and culture of Punjab
Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal further said, "Whenever any small incident happens in Punjab, leaders of all opposition parties come running there. He has no other issue left. But the people of Punjab do not like this kind of politics. Punjab believes in living together, maintaining brotherhood and welfare of all."
Innocence and appeal of AAP leaders
Barinder Kumar Goyal reiterated that neither any AAP minister nor any MLA has anything to do with this incident. He asked the opposition to "dirty politics" Appealed to stay away from.