Amarinder cautions against sabotaging peace in Punjab

Congress MP Amarinder Singh today cautioned people against sabotaging peace in Punjab and warned that it may again push the state back to the dark days.
The Congress' Deputy leader in the Lok Sabha strongly disapproved of brandishing of swords during the ongoing protests against incidents of sacrilege in Punjab and said such agitations should be held in peaceful manner.
"India is a democratic country and our constitution allows us to hold protests. But it must be peaceful and held within the constitutional limits, and brandishing of swords was not acceptable as this can subvert the hard earned peace in Punjab and push it back to the dark era," Singh said while addressing a congregation to mark the birth anniversary of Maharishi Valmiki here today.

Earlier, paying his tributes, Singh said Maharishi Valmiki had an unparallel place in Indian civilisation, history and culture, which owes so much to him.
The former Chief Minister reiterated his demand that the guilty cops in Kotkapura firing incident must be dismissed and charged for murder.
The Amritsar MP further said, although the Punjab government had replaced the Director General of Police and "appointed an able officer Suresh Arora in his place, people will only be satisfied after justice is done in the case of unprovoked and indiscriminate firing."

Promising to bring in new era of peace, progress and development in the state, Singh appealed to the people to ensure that the Akalis were thrown out and Congress was brought to power in the next state assembly polls.

He criticised Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for his "all round failures", saying "Punjab had been pushed to bankruptcy. The state debt has crossed Rs 1.25 lakh crore and there was not even sufficient money to pay the interest, leave aside carrying out development works."
The former Chief Minister claimed that employees were without salary for months and pensioners were waiting for their pensions for about a year.