Hindustan Times (Bathinda)

Jakhar slams Modi govt for giving relief to Rajoana

State Congress president asks BJP to clarify its stand on terrorism, saying the Centre has deployed heavy force in J&K to fight militancy and is pardoning militants in Punjab

- HT Correspond­ents letterschd@hindustant­imes.com ■

LUDHIANA/AMRITSAR/JALANDHAR/ BATHINDA :Slamming the Narendra Modi government for commuting death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted for assassinat­ion of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, to life imprisonme­nt, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Friday said the BJP should make its stand clear on terrorism.

Jakhar was speaking during a demonstrat­ion held by the Congress outside the mini secretaria­t here to protest against the Modi government’s “antipeople” policies.

He also criticised the government for pardoning Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who was convicted in the 1993 Delhi bomb blast case.

He said the BJP is exploiting voters in the name of terrorism while the GDP is declining and people have lost their jobs due to “anti-people” policies of the government.

Later talking to the media, Jakhar said, “On one hand, the Modi government has deployed heavy force in Jammu and Kashmir to fight terrorism, on the other it is favouring terrorists by commuting their death sentence into life imprisonme­nt. The BJP should make its stand clear on terrorism.”

Describing the Modi government as the biggest threat to the Indian economy, Jakhar alleged that the government is wilfully ignoring the interests of various government department­s and institutio­ns, and instead promoting big corporate houses.

He added, “The BJP has caused broken the backbone of Indian economy by implementi­ng GST and demonetisa­tion, due to which people are suffering.”

Jakhar said, “The UPA government under the leadership of the then prime minister Manmohan Singh had worked hard to stabilise the Indian economy. But the Bjp-led NDA government has destabilis­ed the economy to the extent that it will take ages to set it right.”

In Amritsar, the congress workers held a protest at the Bhandari Bridge.

The protest was led by local MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Punjab cabinet ministers Dr Raj Kumar Verka and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria among others.

In Jalandhar, MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary slammed the Modi regime over the persistent slowdown, adding the government was doing nothing to put the country back on the trajectory of high GDP growth.

“For several quarters, almost all sectors have been reporting a steep fall in growth rates. Sales have been falling in auto, agricultur­e, housing, FMCG and many other industries,” he said, adding that the banking system was also staring at a huge crisis due to a large number of frauds and scandals that had come to beset it.

In Bathinda, party workers, led by city unit president Arun Wadhawan and rural unit president Khushbaz Singh Jatana, burnt an effigy of the central government at the fire brigade chowk. The leaders said the country was facing economic slowdown and unemployme­nt due to anti-people policies of the government.

 ?? HARSIMAR PAL SINGH/HT ?? ■
Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar with party leaders during a protest against the central government in Ludhiana on Friday.
HARSIMAR PAL SINGH/HT ■ Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar with party leaders during a protest against the central government in Ludhiana on Friday.

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