Look at Haryana, UP before saying anything about Punjab law & order: Bhagwant Mann to BJP
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday attacked the BJP for trying to defame Punjab over its law and order, saying the situation here is far better than what is in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Mann, in a statement here, said that a few unfortunate incidents did take place in the state, but the law and order here is still intact.
“Crime rate is extremely low in Punjab as compared to the Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states of the country but still we are taking precautionary measures like cracking down on gun-culture and reviewing gun licences issued recklessly by the previous governments so that the law and order situation remains intact,” the CM said. Without naming any politician, he said that those who patronised criminals under their rule are now raising questions about the peace and harmony of the state. It is like the Taliban is advocating for peace.
Mann also posted a tweet in Punjabi and accused the previous government of patronising criminals and slammed them for jailbreak incidents under their rule.
They patronised gangsters and now, they question the peace and harmony of the state. It is just like the Taliban taking out a candle march and advocating peace, he wrote.
The CM said that the state government is firmly committed to maintaining the law and order in Punjab and no anti-social element will be allowed to disturb the hard-earned peace and communal harmony of the state. State minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer also hit out at the BJP-led Centre for defaming Punjab, saying it was getting “unnerved” with the rising popularity of the Aam Aadmi Party in Gujarat.
Hayer also claimed that the crime rate is far less in Punjab as compared to many BJP-ruled states, such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Hayer was responding to a statement of the Union Home Minister in an interview to a TV channel, in which Amit Shah said that since the AAP formed the government in Punjab, the law and order situation was in tatters, as he offered to work with the state government to improve the situation.
Speaking to the media here, Cabinet minister Hayer decried Shahs statement, saying it was a futile attempt by the BJP to malign Punjabs image to gain political mileage in the poll-bound Gujarat. He said the AAP government is working dedicatedly to eradicate mafia and gangster culture from the state. He said that as many as 402 gangsters have been arrested and 363 weapons have been recovered since the Aam Aadmi Party formed government in the state. Quoting the National Crime Records Bureau report, from 2018 to 2021, Hayer said Punjab ranked 15th among in the country for gun and explosive related violence far behind Haryana and Rajasthan.
He said that Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan were at the top with most gun violence cases in the country.
In Punjab where some big incidents took place, the sharp shooters involved in these cases were from Haryana where the BJP is in power, Hayer said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)
