Don't test patience, Punjabis know how to fight back: Bhagwant Mann to Banwarilal Purohit

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Chandigarh, August 26

A day after Governor Banwarilal Purohit “threatened” to recommend President’s rule in Punjab in case the state government did not answer his questions, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said the “patience of 3.5 crore Punjabis shouldn’t be tested as they knew how to fight back when suppressed”.

“Don’t test our patience. As a representative of 3.5 crore Punjabis, and not as the Chief Minister, I’ll like to point out that we have played a major role in the freedom struggle… we have defended the country’s borders against foreign aggression and have also fed the nation for decades after the Green Revolution,” said CM Mann, addressing the media here.

Hunger for grabbing power

The Governor’s orders… exhibit hunger for grabbing power. We know how to fight back when suppressed. Whatever you are doing is unconstitutional. Don’t rub salt into our wounds. —Bhagwant Mann, Punjab CM

The Chief Minister said the government had replied to nine of the 16 questions asked by the Governor, and that the rest too would be replied shortly. At the same time, he questioned the Governor’s “intentions”, asking where he got such orders from. “It exhibits a hunger for grabbing power…. We (Punjabis) also know how to fight back when suppressed. Whatever you are doing is unconstitutional. Don’t rub salt into our wounds,” he said.

CM Mann alleged that the BJP, through the Governor, was trying to destabilise governments in states, including West Bengal, Delhi, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where the saffron party was unable to purchase MLAs to topple regimes. “I want to ask our Governor whether his counterpart in neighbouring Haryana issued any notice to CM Manohar Lal Khattar during the recent communal clashes in Nuh. We also did not hear anything from the Manipur Governor in the aftermath of the Kuki-Meitei clashes. Is that so only because both the states have BJP governments?” he said.

Mann also reminded the Governor that he had not yet signed at least six Bills passed by the government. “The Governor did not show any interest in taking up with the Centre the issue of Punjab not getting its due share of the RDF (Rural Development Fund) or the GST. He has also not bothered to voice the cause of farmers with the Centre, which is responsible for addressing 99 per cent of their demands…. A ‘selected’ Governor does not have any moral right to threaten a democratically ‘elected’ government,” he said.

Mann said Punjab had, in its war against drugs, arrested more than 23,518 drug smugglers, registered 17,623 FIRs and recovered 1,627 kg of heroin. “Punjab has recorded an investment of Rs 50,871 crore. The Union Minister concerned also admitted in the Rajya Sabha recently that Punjab led entire north India in MSMEs,” he said.