Cong MLAs give Channi’s speech a miss, he too fails to help own cause
LONE RANGER Attack on govt lacks sting, leader of oppn applauds Cong for picking Dalit CLP leader
CHANDIGARH: It did not need the ruling- party benches to beat the opposition Congress in the Punjab assembly on Monday. As a nervous Charanjit Singh Channi delivered his maiden speech as leader of opposition during the motion of thanks on the governor’s address, only 10 of 42 legislators of his party were present to hear him.
None of the senior MLAs, with the exception of Lal Singh and Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, were on their seats, as Channi struggled to put up a spirited attack on the government. Unlike Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhjinder Randhawa, who spoke on Friday, no Congress legislator had a strong counter-narrative to achievements listed by the government in the governor’s address. Indian Youth Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was high on theatrics than substance, as he scored self-goals on the emotive issue of religion and went on apology spree after the House was adjourned twice after angry ruling party MLAs sought that he first said sorry.
The charged- up speech of Warring led to a slugfest, with each side trading charges. Channi began his address by saying dark clouds hovered over Punjab, as its youth has been pushed towards drugs and its farmers towards suicide, while poverty and corruption were rising. Then he lost the plot, as his accusations drew a strong reaction from the ruling benches and he dumped an issue midway to raise another.
Accusing the Parkash Singh Badal government of putting up a weak case in the Supreme Court on the Sutlej- Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, he said that in 1978, the chief minister had written to his Haryana counterpart, seeking ` 4 crore as part of Haryana’s contribution to the SYL project. The CM denied doing so and education minister Daljit Singh Cheema got up to claim it was then Congress CM Giani Zail Singh who had written this letter in 1976. Channi, then claimed, it was in the Congress amendment disallowed by the speaker that the party had first moved the idea of de- notifying the land acquired for the SYL and returning it to farmers.
He then went on to question the government claims on Dalit welfare, while applauding his party for making a Dalit leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly. “How many Dalit ministers does this government have in a state where about 33% of the population is Scheduled Caste? Of the four SC ministers they had, they removed one (Swaran Singh Phillaur) on the charges of links with drug traders, while letting a powerful minister (Bikram Singh Majithia) go scot-free. If the CM had his way, there would be no Dalit in any government position,” he said. At this, Majithia got up to say
WHERE HE FUMBLED BECASUE OF INEXPERIENCE, HE FOUND NO HELP
the leader of the opposition was under tremendous pressure to perform, as the post did not come easy in the Congress.
Though providing direct subsidy to farmers instead of free electricity, which Channi claimed affected the minimum support price ( MSP) of crops adversely, was a point well made, Channi could not defend why the Congress government of Captain Amarinder Singh had not done so. He also demanded that the government waived farm loans, a suggestion that only a few Congress MLAs welcomed with the thumping of desks. Where he fumbled owing to inexperience, he found no help, owing to near absence of the entire senior leadership.
Channi concluded his speech by seeking the resignation of almost every minister in the Badal family. “I demand the resignation of revenue minister Majithia for being the kingpin of drug and sand- mining mafia; of deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal for police firing on Sikh protesters at Behbal Kalan; and of Harsimrat Kaur Badal for being a part of the Narendra Modi government that has taken a stand against Punjab’s interests in the Supreme Court on the SYL issue,” he said.
That there was no sting in the attack was well displayed in a bemused CM’s asking one of his MLAs to let Channi finish or else he ( CM) would have to deliver his speech at midnight. In keeping with its strategy or lack of one, the Congress then boycotted the CM’s speech and walked out to call it a day.