Traditional parties didn’t let public think beyond basic needs, says Punjab CM

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday launched a scathing attack on traditional parties, accusing them of trapping people in the struggle for basic needs while furthering their personal interests.

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In a 34-minute speech peppered with metaphors, anecdotes and sharp jibes at political opponents, Mann said issues like choked sewerage and raising of crematorium walls in villages got precedence over pressing problems for decades.

“For over 70 years, people were not allowed to think beyond these basic needs,” he said taking a jibe at Opposition parties after inaugurating a tehsil complex at Dudhan Sadha in Sanaur.

He claimed that the AAP government in the state had initiated reforms in the education sector with parents now “shifting their children to public schools from private ones”. “Our students are scoring over 99 per cent marks and clearing competitive exams,” he claimed.

Mann also launched a veiled attack on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal. “Those who siphoned off donations are now suffering one fracture after another,” he said without taking any name. The allegation came a day after Mann claimed that the Akalis have “degraded” the sanctity of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and misused Sikh institutions for narrow political gains.

He had accused the Badal family of reducing the SGPC to a mere “Shiromani Golak Prabandhak Committee” for its “greed for money”.

The CM also took potshots at the late Akali veteran Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

He recalled how as a seventh-grade student he was made to write to letter on behalf of a panchayat to Dhindsa, who was the Sangrur MP then, about the need for a bridge over a seasonal rivulet, a promise that remained unfulfilled until he himself became an MP.

Liquor vend rakes in moolah

Ahead of Mann’s arrival at the rally, a liquor vend opposite the venue witnessed a surge in customers.

Soon it caught the probing eye of intelligence offers, who told the cops to close the liquor vend before the arrival of the CM. Till then, vend operators had sold their entire stock. Meanwhile, 300 buses, ferrying AAP supporters, arrived at the venue from parts of the Sanaur and adjoining areas.

Many Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) buses were diverted to the venue due to which a large number of passengers remained stranded at the Patiala bus stand.