A day after Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab Police, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said on Monday that Amritpal is neither a leader nor a representative of Sikh community.

Addressing a press conference in Jalandhar, the former CM said the Aam Aadmi Party Government was quite late in arresting Amritpal (who was arrested 35 days after the state police launched crackdown against him and his supporters) and he should have been arrested much earlier.

“I want to know why he (Amritpal) was caught so late. He should have been caught over 30 days ago. Anyone who breaks the law of this land, doing things like what he did in Ajnala or having relations with Pakistan, such a person should have been caught on the first day,” he added.

Amarinder said nobody should be allowed to play with peace and harmony in the country, as there can be no tolerance towards anti-national activities.

The former CM dismissed the suggestions that Sikh community was being maligned or victimised. ““Who is Amritpal? Do you think he is the leader of the Sikhs? Who is he? He is nobody. Where was Amritpal one year ago?  He had his hair and beard cut and was driving a bus in Dubai. This country is a secular democracy. There is no Sikh, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist divide. We are living in a secular democracy where everyone is equal,” the BJP leader said.

Meanwhile, the former CM said his party (BJP) was fighting the Jalandhar by-election on the basis of nine years’ extraordinary performance of the BJP government led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  He said under the dynamic leadership of PM Modi, the country’s stature had risen globally.

“India has faced several domestic and international challenges successfully under Mr Modi’s leadership and people realise that”, he said adding the BJP was on a strong footing because of the performance of the Central government.  “We are reaching out to people on the basis of the performance of the BJP government at the centre”, Amarinder said.

Besides, the former CM said there was unprecedented development all around particularly in the defence and infrastructure sector. He said during the tenure of AK Antony as the defence minister in the Congress government, there was virtually no purchase of defence equipment and the country was facing an ammunition shortage.

 He said during PM Modi’s tenure, the country has become fully equipped in terms of ammunition. Otherwise, he said, the situation was like during the time of the China war when there was a massive ammunition shortage.