MLA Khaira says he is changing political agenda, asks Congress why Sikhs will vote for it if it doesn’t speak on their issues
The Congress leader mentions Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder and Deep Sidhu's death and asks ‘if Sikhs are not safe in foreign countries, how can they be safe in India?’
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Congress legislator from Bholath Sukhpal Singh Khaira. (Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)
While praising leaders from across parties for supporting him while he was in jail, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Punjab Congress MLA from Bulath, said on Sunday that he was going to change his life so that his political agenda would not be “personal at all”, but “all for Punjab”.
“I read around 10 books while I was in jail. The only time I cried in jail was when I read in a book about how the kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was annexed. Now I am going to change my life. Nelson Mandela from South Africa inspired me the most in the books I read. What am I in front of Mandela, who remained in jail from 1963 to 1990? I stopped holding grudges after looking at the illegal confinement of my father, Waris Punjab De head Amritpal Singh and former Pakistan PM Imran Khan,” he said at his first public gathering since being released on bail in a drugs case.
Khaira held the gathering in Bulath in Kapurthala district on the issues of the “imposition of the National Security Act on innocents, fake police encounters and government oppression”.
Khaira said, “My father was first jailed during the Emergency. Parkash Singh Badal sacked him from the cabinet in 1978 after levelling fake allegations. He was later jailed several times only because he was an associate of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was a warrior born once in centuries. Our family loves Punjab. My father was repeatedly sent to jail under the NSA just like now our youth have been sent to Dibrugarh.”
With stories of how my father was again and again booked under the NSA, I want to tell (Chief Minister) Bhagwant Mann who I am,” said Khaira.
Khaira also thanked and praised his political opponents Bibi Jagir Kaur, BJP state president Sunil Jakhar, Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) former minister Bikram Majithia, Sangrur MP Simranjit Singh Mann and Lakha Sidhana for supporting him while he was in jail.
“I believe what is happening with me is also happening with Bikram Singh Majithia. Bhagwant Mann is hell-bent upon sending Majithia to jail. If they do so, I will be standing with Majithia,” he added.
The Supreme Court recently dismissed a state government plea against bail granted to Khaira by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Amid allegations that the Congress left Khaira alone while he was in jail, Khaira praised the party’s state president, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Opposition leader Partap Singh Bajwa, former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and former ministers Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sukhjinder Singh Sukhi Randhawa and Pargat Singh, and Congress state in-charge Devender Yadav.
“We will have to stop speaking against each other. We have to speak for Punjab. We have many issues at hand,” Khaira said. “Our Punjab is getting empty. Parents are sending their children to foreign countries. Every year, lakhs of students are going to Canada. Forget about the economy; our language, our turban and our state will not be able to be saved.”
“I want to ask my party Congress if you don’t talk about Sikhs, how will they vote for you? The Canadian prime minister has accused Indian agencies of being behind the murder of (Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh) Nijjar. The US has also levelled similar allegations. Bhagwant Mann and Sukhbir Badal didn’t speak on the issue. If Sikhs are not safe in foreign countries, how can they be safe in India? Now I am sure that it was not an accident in which Waris Punjab De founder Sandeep Singh Deep Sidhu died,” he said.
Khaira said, “Anyone can come to Punjab and work. But none should be allowed to buy land in Punjab. If it can happen in Himachal, then why not in Punjab? But those sitting in Delhi didn’t allow this. Akalis should have done this. Bhagwant Mann can do this. But his hands are tied behind.”
“We have only one asset in the state, water. We are emptying our groundwater. Give MSP for other crops than paddy. We can remove paddy by using part of the CCL (cash credit limit) in phases. There is a need to open the border with Pakistan to support the industry in the state,” he suggested.
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