Bajwa’s wish for 2024 — and a message to Cong: Rahul as PM, won’t accept any proxy

As Bajwa made the address in Punjabi, Gandhi asked him to repeat it in Hindi for him to understand.

Bajwa, who was addressing a rally in Pathankot on the conclusion of the Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra’s Punjab leg, then explained the same in Hindi.

The Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, however, did not elaborate on what he meant by “proxy PM”.

During the two successive terms of the UPA government at Centre led by the UPA , the Opposition often accused then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of being the “proxy PM” and then Congress president Sonia Gandhi of being “de-facto PM”, a charge always denied by the party.

During his speech, Bajwa told Gandhi that to address the shortcomings in the Congress, leaders with clean image needed to be promoted. Referring to “new experiment” by the electors where they trashed traditional political parties to choose AAP, Bajwa said, “Had there been clean faces in the party, it would not have had to face such a drubbing [in February 20 Punjab polls]”.

Bajwa categorically told Gandhi that if Congress was to be revived, “parachute” leaders should not have any place in the party.

State party chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring too appealed to Gandhi not to accept “oppurtunist” leaders from outside into the partyfold. Stressing that dyed-in-the wool and leaders wedded to the ideology of the Congress should be there in the party, he added, “Even before buying animal, we check its blood line.”

Former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa Randhawa too made a similar appeal. “Stop the entry of wrong people who make their way into the party. Congress workers should be promoted. The doors should be closed for the ones who came to Congress to loot the Congress.”

BJP’s only concern is elections: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge attacked the ruling BJP at the Centre, saying its only concern is how to win elections, not solving problems faced by the people.

“They don’t have to work for the welfare of the country or to resolve people’s problems….their attention is on elections and how to win them,” Kharge said, adding during the two-day BJP’s national executive meeting held recently in Delhi, no discussion was held on national security or the country’s welfare as the sole focus was how to win next year’s general elections. “This is their only plan, they have no other plan.”

H said, “Prime Minister did not shed a single tear when 700 farmers died during the agitation against the farm laws. But if people from our party leave us to join them, he cries in Parliament. Did you see that or not,” Kharge asked, apparently referring to Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the Congress last year.

“…In Manusmriti or RSS ideologies, women have no place and they are looked down upon. They are not permitted to get educated. I was watching a video of the Taliban suppressing women who wanted education. Earlier, our situation was also like that. And today, RSS and the BJP are trying to bring back the same situation. It is your job to stop that. You have to save democracy and the Constitution,” he told the gathering.

Gandhi too launched a scathing attack on the Centre, alleging that its policies “create fear” among the people and also accused the BJP and the RSS of creating an atmosphere of hatred and violence in the country. “They (BJP) create fear. All of their policies cause fear to one or the other. Look at their policies — farmers get up at 4 am in the morning and they toil hard daily and feed the nation. Farmers do not want anything in return, they only want respect. But what did BJP do for them — they brought ‘black’ farm laws. These laws created fear among farmers,” he said.

Speaking about the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, the Congress leader, “Not even a single farmer told me that they got insurance compensation when they suffered crop loss due to natural calamities”.

He targeted the Centre over the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme, saying it has shattered the dreams of those aspiring to join the defence forces. “What three black laws did to farmers, the Agnipath scheme is doing to the armed forces,” he alleged.