As protests increased over the death of a Dalit girl after being pushed out of a moving bus owned by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's transport company, state Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa on Saturday said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family members lacked the moral courage to even go and meet the victim's family.
Appealing to all political parties and social organisations to ensure justice to the 13-year-old victim, Arshdeep Kaur, Bajwa demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Badal "for lacking courage to go personally to express condolence to the poor and hapless family who belong to the area that once used to be the Badal family's home turf".
"It is the constitutional duty of the chief minister to provide a sense of security to every citizen.
"You (chief minister) have failed to provide that and the horrendous, horrifying and ghastly killing of a young girl belonging to a poor dalit family in broad daylight is a shocking example of how law and order situation has crumbled and the ordinary people are too scared to speak against the goonda (rogue) elements who have political patronage," Bajwa said in a statement here.
"Your son Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal is the deputy chief minister and your daughter-in-law Mrs. Harsimrat Kaur Badal is a union minister. None of you have the guts to meet the family and assure justice. Your moral weakness flows from the fact that your family business and vested interests dominate your politics and governance and are in clash with each other," Bajwa said.
The Congress president demanded registration of a case against the transport company's managing director Sukhbir Badal and other directors on the pattern of the case over the December 16, 2012 Delhi gang-rape, the Uber taxi service in another rape case and the Uphaar cinema hall fire case.
"There cannot be two sets of law. The permits of all bus companies owned by Sukhbir Badal must be cancelled and the buses stopped forthwith from plying in the state," Bajwa said.
The Congress leader said union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal misled the country by feigning ignorance about the ownership of the bus that belonged to her family and demanded she should also resign.
"Her 'Nanhi Chhaan' project for the protection of the girl child is a gimmick to gain foothold for political purposes. In case she was really sincere to the cause, she would not have expressed ignorance about the bus ownership and proceeded to Baghapurana without any delay," he said.
He said the Youth Congress would lay siege to the transport company office in Bathinda on Sunday (May 3), while the company buses would be stopped in Mohali on May 4 (Monday) in the first phase of the Congress party's agitation.
