With Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tarun Chugh accusing Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh of insulting his Army background and the grace of Republic Day by supporting those “farmers” who insulted the national flag during a tractor parade at Red Fort in Delhi, Capt Amarinder on Saturday said that the BJP was desperately trying to “divert” public attention from the genuine plight and struggle of the farmers by resorting to “theatrics and lies”.

“What was wrong in my statement that ‘maligning the farmers (for the Red Fort violence) could cause the morale of the armed forces, 20 per cent of which is from Punjab, to go down? How does that amount to insulting the Republic Day grace and my own Army background?” asked an angry Captain Amarinder, hitting out at the BJP’s national general secretary Chugh.

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“What happened to the grace of the R-day when the Central government, which the BJP leads, trampled over the federal and Constitutional rights of the states to unilaterally bring in the farm ordinances without consulting anyone? Where is the grace in letting the poor farmers, who are feeding you along with the billion plus people of India every day, shiver out in the cold on the roads, with many of them dying out there?”, Amarinder asked.

Reacting to Chugh’s accusations that he had backed those who had insulted the tricolour at the Red Fort, Amarinder said he was among the first to outright condemn the violence and the dishonour to the symbol of independent India.

The CM reiterated his demand for a thorough probe into the incident to expose the conspiracy and unveil the role, if any, of any political party or any third country.

Terming Chugh’s remarks on his `Army background’ as reprehensible, Punjab CM quipped, “what does the BJP or its leadership know of Army honour or the grace of the national flag, in which the bodies of our Punjabi brothers come wrapped from the borders every second day?”

“We in Punjab know the pain of seeing the bodies of our sons and brothers, wrapped in the national flag, come home every second day,” he said, adding that the BJP clearly has no empathy or sensitivity towards the soldiers losing their lives to protect India’s honour and integrity.

Neither Chugh nor his party could relate to the anguish of those very soldiers on seeing their farmer fathers and brothers being beaten up and tear gassed while fighting for their rights, said the CM.