Chandigarh, July 22 (IANS) Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema on Tuesday slammed the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP, accusing them of desperately conspiring to return to power in the state through an “unprincipled alliance” despite their history of betrayal and destruction of the youth, economy and social fabric.

Cheema told the media here, “For a long time now, the BJP and Akali Dal leaders have been restless and desperate to somehow return to power in Punjab. Day in and day out, their leaders make statements suggesting they want to renew ties. While the SAD chief tries to deny any alliance, BJP national leaders say they will contest alone in Punjab.”

“I want to remind everyone of Punjab’s dark past written during their rule, pages full of pain for Punjab.”

The AAP leader held both parties responsible for the rampant drug menace that devastated the state’s youth.

“It was under the SAD-BJP alliance government that drugs were deliberately pushed into Punjab to ruin an entire generation. It was a conspiracy hatched together by SAD and the BJP to destroy Punjab’s youth. Gangster culture was nurtured by these very parties. During their rule, daughters were not safe; crimes against women happened openly, and those who dared to protect them were shot dead. This is the true history of the SAD-BJP regime,” he said.

He said every child in Punjab knows how these two parties brought drugs into the state and played a direct role in creating a gangster culture.

“Even today, Punjab remembers everything. The entire country knows it was the BJP which brought in the three black farm laws. Punjab is a state that feeds the nation, yet when the BJP was in power at the Centre in alliance with SAD, both chose to ruin Punjab’s youth and its future,” said Cheema.

Recalling the historic farmers’ agitation, Cheema said, “It was during their rule that those black laws were brought in. Every farmer stood up against them. Under public pressure, SAD broke ties with the BJP, saying they would never ally again because the BJP tried to destroy farmers.”

“Over 375 farmers died during the protest against those laws. The entire nation remembers this. Now I fail to understand how shamelessly they are talking about a fresh alliance?”

Cheema also reminded people how the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib that happened during the SAD rule.

“Punjab will never forget, in 1986, under SAD rule, sacrilege took place. Again, in 2015-16, sacrilege happened when SAD was in power. As long as they ruled Punjab, drugs kept flowing into the state. That was the time when people started sending their children abroad to save them because Punjab was being ruled by looters, a government determined to destroy the state.”

–IANS

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