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Dinesh Manhotra
Tribune News Service
Kathua/Chandigarh, April 14
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday targeted Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for skipping the ‘official function’ of centenary commemoration of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on Saturday. The Punjab CM hit back at PM Modi for playing “dirty politics” on a sombre occasion.
Capt was under pressure to skip the function to ‘attend’ Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Modi said while addressing an election rally at Kathua.
“I have known Captain Amarinder Singh for a long time. I have never raised a question on his patriotism,” the Prime Minister said, adding, “I can understand the kind of pressure which must have been put on him for Parivar Bhakti.”
“Patriotism of Captain is unquestionable, but he appeared to be succumbed before dynasty due to Congress’ politics,” Modi said. He, however, regretted that Captain skipped the official function presided over by the Vice-President of the country, only to attend Congress president. “For the Congress, loyalty towards family is more important than patriotism”, the Prime Minister said.
“The whole nation was remembering the martyrs of Jallianwalla Bagh on Saturday. But even on this day, the Congress played politics over it,” Modi said.
“Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu paid tributes to martyrs in Amritsar, but Congress’s Chief Minister was absent from the official event," he said and asked, “You know why, because he was busy appeasing Gandhi family."
“The Congress gets rattled whenever they hear about surgical strikes or the Balakot air strike. Nation feels proud about surgical strike, but Congress gets rattled. The Congress never had faith in our armed forces”, Modi said.
PM politicising Jallianwala tragedy: Capt Amarinder
Accusing PM Modi of playing “dirty politics”, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh alleged that the central government had deliberately chosen to hold a “parallel event” instead of supporting the initiatives and programmes of the state government.
The event was organised in Amritsar on Saturday by the Centre and it was attended by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.
Singh claimed in a statement that he had personally approached the prime minister several times over the last two years to seek support for ensuring that the occasion is commemorated in a befitting manner but the Centre had failed to respond suitably.
“Instead, the Modi government decided to hold its own event, quite evidently to score political brownie points in the backdrop of the Lok Sabha elections,” he alleged.
“This was truly shocking considering that the prime minister is the chairman of the Jallianwala Bagh Trust,” Singh said.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi and the chief minister had on Saturday morning paid floral tributes at the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial in Amritsar.
On Saturday afternoon, M Venkaiah Naidu visited Jallianwala Bagh and paid tributes to those killed in the massacre on April 13, 1919. The ceremony was organised by the Union Ministry of Culture.
Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore and Punjab Cabinet Minister O P Soni were among others present at the function held in the afternoon.
“Shocked at your remarks in Kathua on Jallianwala Bagh @narendramodi Ji. You used a sombre occasion to play dirty politics, conveniently ignoring your own government’s decision to hold a parallel event instead of extending support to my govt, which we’d been requesting for 2 yrs,” Singh tweeted.
“Unlike the BJP, the Congress leadership does not believe in dictating terms to its state governments,” Singh said in his statement, countering Modi’s remark that he did not attend the Centre’s event under pressure from his party high command.
“These things happen in the BJP, which you, Mr Modi, are running in your typical dictatorial style,” he alleged.
Singh claimed it did not befit a prime minister of the country to stoop so low in order to woo voters and urged Modi to refrain from demeaning the high office.
Singh also exhorted the prime minister not to exploit the martyrdom of victims of the massacre, or of the soldiers dying everyday at the borders or in ISI-backed terror attacks such as in Pulwama, for furthering his and his party’s political ambitions.
He condemned Modi for allegedly trying to mislead the people with this “politically motivated falsehoods” and claimed the PM had insulted the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh, “first by not being present at any of the commemorative events and then by choosing to politicise the occasion”.
Singh said that after leading the state at the commemorative events in Amritsar, he immediately rushed to another event organised by The Tribune Trust in Chandigarh.
A Cabinet Minister (O P Soni) was appointed to be present at the Central government’s function, which was attended by the vice president, he said, adding that all the necessary protocols were duly followed. — With PTI inputs
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