Ahead of Punjab Assembly Elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to participate in public rallies on February 14th, 16th, and 17th in the regions of Malwa, Doaba, and Majha. The PM is expected to address the first rally on February 14 in Jalandhar, the second one on February 16 in Pathankot, and the third one on February 17 in Abohar. However, protesting farmers are planning on a mass boycott of his rallies.
Recently, Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu hinted at forthcoming disruption. He asserted that PM Modi should consider traveling by helicopter or an airplane since he will supposedly face problems if he plans to travel by road in Punjab. Alluding to the mass street protests by farmers that carried on for months against the three controversial farm bills introduced in Parliament, Bittu declared that the people of Punjab have not forgotten that they have spent a year on roads.
Bittu says, “He is welcome. We have told the people to listen to the Prime Minister. He should come by air. He would still have problems by road because he has kept every Punjabi on the road for more than a year. How would they forget? More than 700 farmers died during the protest”
The Prime Minister has been consistently facing disruption on his visits to Punjab over the past few months. On his visit to Punjab last month, his cavalcade was held up by a road protest at a flyover for 15-20 minutes while traveling to Ferozpur. The Ministry of Home Affairs declared this event to be evidence of a “major lapse” of the Prime Minister’s security. The Supreme Court set up a five-member committee on January 12 to investigate the significant security lapse. The committee is headed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Indu Malhotra.
On the other hand, the Punjab government investigated the security lapse separately by a committee comprising Home Secretary Anurag Verma and retired judge Justice Mehtab Singh Gill. In addition to these, the Centre has constituted an inquiry committee comprising SPG officers and Intelligence Bureau officers under the command of the Security Secretary. The investigation is underway.
While the Centre presses the Punjab government to answer for the PM’s security lapse, Punjab Minister Rajkumar Verka refutes allegations that declare the Prime Minister’s life under threat in the flyover holdup. Verka told reporters: “There were no shortcomings in the security arrangements during today’s PM’s visit to Punjab. The accusations of a security breach are baseless. The truth is that BJP’s rally was a flop show. When PM got to know this, he decided to return.
A month after this controversial visit of the PM, he is scheduled to revisit Punjab tomorrow. An ominous hint of protests is once again in the air.
Edited By- Subbuthai Padma
Published By- Bharat Anand
