The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday said that it won't participate in the debate called by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, on Wednesday (November 1). Speaking to The Indian Express, party spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said that SAD had appealed to AAP and the CM that it should call an all-party meeting to decide the modalities of the debate and that it should be focused on Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal issue only. “However, we got no response from the other side. AAP and the CM are behaving arrogantly and it seems that they do not want the Opposition to take part in the debate at all. There's no point in participating in a debate where everything is managed by the ruling party. It would be their own people (audience) in attendance. Common people won't be allowed to enter the venue, and heavy police force has been deployed in Ludhiana to suppress voice of people. This shows AAP's arrogance,” Cheema said, adding that “they are trying to divert attention of the people from the SYL issue and run away from it by incorporating other issues in the debate. We want the debate to focus on SYL Canal issue”. Addressing the media here, senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said that Mann was “set to insult Punjab and Punjabis on Punjab Day tomorrow (November 1) by creating divisions in the state polity and derailing the SYL Canal issue deliberately on the directions of AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal”. Majithia said the CM first failed to call an all-party meeting to discuss and save the loot of Punjab’s river waters. “Now, the SYL Canal issue has been further relegated to the sidelines with the CM announcing that 19 issues would be taken up for discussion in the so-called debate being organised by the government in Ludhiana with a 30-minute time limit for each speaker. This means the AAP government is not serious about getting all political parties on one platform on the most sensitive issue (SYL Canal).” Majithia also condemned the manner in which the Punjab Police was being misused to keep Punjabis out of the debate. He said the entire Ludhiana city has been turned into a cantonment with even the ongoing Saras fair in the city being closed abruptly. “The movement of all heads of unions as well as those of kisan organisations has been restricted to prevent them from reaching the debate venue which is reminding people of the days of the Emergency. The extent of the clampdown can be gauged from the fact that the special DGP law and order had to hold a meeting to review the security situation for tomorrow’s debate which was attended by the ADGP traffic, ADGP intelligence, IG Ropar, commissioner of police Ludhiana, DIG Ludhiana Range, and DIG PAP, besides a host of other superintendents of police,” he said, adding that the Punjab Police was referring to the debate as a VVIP event, indicating that only “Khas Aadmi” would participate in it and ordinary Punjabis would be kept from it. Majithia also condemned the manner in which passes had been distributed for the debate. He said each AAP legislator had been given 30 passes for further distribution. “It is unfortunate that the entire debate has been reduced to a public relations exercise of the AAP government which is aimed at diverting the attention of the people from the SYL Canal issue and launching a smear campaign against the Opposition,” he added.
