Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday threatened to go on a hunger strike if the reports on drugs menace and the 2015 sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib were not made public by the Charanjit Singh Channi government.
Speaking at a public rally at Baghapurana town in Moga district, Sidhu said the party came to power promising eradication of drugs.
He said the Captain Amarinder Singh government has gone and the Charanjit Singh Channi government has been formed.
“If the new CM does not provide justice on the incidents of sacrilege then I will sacrifice my body to seek justice for disrespect of our gurus because our gurus are supreme over and above us, our state and the country,” he said.
“My conscience and the conscience of all Punjabis demand justice. What is the use of our government, which cannot provide justice to us,” he said while adding that making the promise of providing justice on the sacrilege issue, the change in the guard was brought in by the government.
Demanding to make public the reports on drug menace and the sacrilege incidents, Sidhu said the people of Punjab must know why the previous chief ministers ‘slept’ for years instead of taking stern legal action against the ‘culprits’.
“But if the government does not open the drug reports, I will go on a hunger strike. We need to show why the previous Chief Minister (Captain Amarinder Singh) sat on these reports. Now this government needs to open these reports. The court has not barred the state government from opening the reports,” he said just after the CM, Channi, left the venue after addressing the rally in order to preside over other scheduled public functions in Moga city.
The state agencies’ reports on the drugs issue have been submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in sealed covers and Sidhu wants the findings to be shared with the people. Ever since Channi took over as CM, Sidhu has made his displeasure over the functioning of the former’s government known.
To make use of Sidhu’s tirade against his own party’s government, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday praised Sidhu for raising the public’s issues. But the Congress is hell-bent on suppressing him, he said.
He said the state Congress chief’s courage must be commended for questioning the tall claims made by the Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi yesterday regarding sand and electricity to be cheaper.