Former Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on Monday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was a divisive figure and that people of Punjab would never approve of his worldview.
Referring to Modi's proposed visit to Amritsar on April 25 to campaign for Arun Jaitley, Capt. Amarinder remarked, "Modi is not the first person to campaign for Jaitley and nor is he going to be the last one".
He pointed out that there was already a plethora of people with higher glamour quotient than Modi who have been campaigning for Jaitley.
"Glamour may grab attention for a while but it does not get you votes", he remarked.
He added, Modi's Amritsar rally will be worse than Jagaraon and also asked Modi about the commitment he made in Jagaraon on February 23, where he said that no Punjabi farmer will ever be disturbed from Gujarat.
"Actually Modi got the feel of things in Punjab on February 23 itself when his rally in Jagaraon witnessed an abysmally low turnout. That is because people of Punjab believe in secular and progressive values," he said.
"On the other hand Modi was preaching a worldview which is sectarian and divisive and can take India back by years. Apparently upset with the low turnout at his rally, he did not follow up his commitment to Punjabis that the Punjabi farmers in Gujarat will not be disturbed. Had he been sincere about his commitment, he would immediately have initiated the move and asked his officials to withdraw the appeal against the Gujarat High Court decision that favours the Punjabi farmers", he added.
