Indian National Congress’s Charanjit Singh Channi led Punjab assembly passed a resolution recently opposing a central government order to increase the Border Security Force’s jurisdiction in the border states from 15 km to 50 km. Channi termed it an ‘assault on federalism.’ 

The CM’s insecurity led to him adding that his government is ready to approach even the supreme court to ‘protect’ Punjab if needed. Protection for Bharat from its own armed forces?

Our border states are festering with drug runners and arms smugglers who smuggle in contraband from Pakistan with help from the Pakistani ISI. It seems Congress is trying hard to provide protection to these nefarious elements. Similar howls of protest against the increased jurisdiction for BSF have been heard from West Bengal, where too sections of the ruling TMC elite are being probed for their links to cross-border cattle smuggling mafia and Jamaat terrorists.   

CM Channi also opposed the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that was inserted by Nehru to temporarily give special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing a special session of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, Channi said that by removing the special status from J&K, the Center had ‘violated’ the rights of the states. 

Article 370 was an abhorrent law that allowed J&K to maintain its own Constitution & flag, and which allowed former Kashmiri-Muslim dominated J&K governments to brazenly discriminate against West Pakistan Hindu refugees, Hindu SC sanitation workers and Kashmiri women. This is the law that allowed radicals and separatists to foster divisiveness and keep J&K alienated from the rest of the country.

Incidentally, both these matters have nothing to do with the states and are the sole responsibility of the central government. They were part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP’s) election manifesto, on the basis of which it received an overwhelming majority in the 2019 elections with 303 LS seats of its own. Many analysts have opined that Channi-led Congress is parroting Pakistan’s concerns more than Bharat’s.  

Channi blamed the opposition Akali Dal (an old ally of the BJP) for strengthening the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Punjab. He added that the Akali Dal remained silent and supported the removal of special status for J&K when it was removed in 2019. He called the Akali leaders ‘supporters of drug mafias’ following which MLAs from both parties almost came to blows inside the assembly and the house was adjourned by the speaker.

This anti-RSS rhetoric is a mask for Hindu-bashing that is staple fare of Khalistani extremists. That a sitting CM is now echoing the same and indulging in veiled Hindu-baiting from within the Punjab assembly has dangerous portends for the security and integrity of the nation.

Amarinder and Channi- two sides of same Congress coin?

Desperation had set into the Congress camp with factions led by Navjot Singh Sidhu and ex-CM Captain Amarinder Singh pulling the party and its policies in different directions. Both of them sulked at a time when the assembly elections were barely 6 months away. The high command was forced to make a choice and decided to go with the pro-Pakistan group led by Sidhu. Amarinder was unceremoniously dumped and replaced with a till then unknown Channi, who was hand-picked by Sonia and is suspected of being a crypto-Christian. 

Channi declared that abrogation of Article 370 ‘ruined’ the federal structure of the country. In August 2019 when the center separated Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir and designated them as separate union territories, many Congress leaders welcomed the decision while some opposed it.

After being forced to resign as CM, Amarinder alleged that Sidhu has Pakistani connections and termed him a threat to our national security, pointing out his relationship with the Pakistani army chief. He said that Pakistan was using drones to push drugs, weapons and explosives into Bharat. Sidhu and his cronies then reminded Amarinder of his close proximity to a Pakistani lady Aroosa Alam (a journalist suspected of links to ISI) and claimed that they had ‘tons of proof’. 

Incidentally, Amarinder who was the Punjab CM in 2019, had termed the removal of Article 370 as “totally unconstitutional” at the time and blamed the central government for the manner in which the state was bifurcated. He increased the security for 8,000 odd Kashmiri students living in Punjab, and banned all protests or celebrations across Punjab. He even warned of retaliatory Pakistani action.

Amarinder had also opposed the CAA law, giving the bizarre logic that it is ‘anti-Jewish’. He had stoked the fires of the ‘farmers protest’ too, beseeching the farmers to spare Punjab and do what they wanted in Delhi-NCR and Haryana.

After being insulted and discarded by the Congress, Amarinder met Home Minister Amit Shah and there were whispers that he might join BJP. But he finally announced a new party and claims that he will fight the upcoming election against Congress, AAP and SAD. Amarinder now says that the BSF is our own force and wants Congress to stop ‘politicizing’ national security issues! Such moves show the ideological bankruptcy of the so-called ‘secular politicians’ of Bharat. There is even chatter that Amarinder’s split from Congress is a smokescreen to beat anti-incumbency, and he will hitch-up with the Congress post elections.

Channi and his administration had done practically nothing to control the selfish acts of stubble burning that the farmers of his state are currently engaged in and have now caused schools and offices in Delhi to shut down. Haryana at least has tried to curb this menace. The Supreme court that vociferously opposed crackers for Diwali seems to lack conviction when it comes to stubble burning. 

Last heard, Channi and his government are doling out 2 lakh rupees each to the 83 lumpen ‘farmers’ and anti-nationals who were arrested for violence during the tractor rally on Republic Day. Almost 400 Delhi Police personnel were injured that day, and the mob had even stormed Red Fort and unfurled a Sikh religious flag and desecrated the national flag. Even Christian Congress workers had turned into ‘farmers’ that day to incite violence.

With Channi at the helm, the troubling situation in Punjab is bound to worsen. Even with vastly reduced political power, Sonia Gandhi still retains the capacity and intent to hurt the nation with such hand-picked choices.