Chandigarh, Oct 29 Punjab BJP leader Sunil Jakhar on Thursday wrote to the Punjab governor, urging him to recommend to the Election Commission early implementation of the model code of conduct (MCC) in the state, alleging “deteriorating” law and order situation.
In a letter to Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, Jakhar said the state government denied permission to hold an anti-drug marathon in Abohar, citing the prevailing law and order situation.
“I wish to draw your attention to Punjab’s deteriorating law and order situation, which the Bhagwant Mann government has now itself acknowledged by denying permission for even a marathon event due to the prevailing bad law and order situation,” Jakhar wrote.
“I request your immediate intervention and a recommendation to the Election Commission to implement the Model Code of Conduct in the state at the earliest, so that the forthcoming Assembly elections can be conducted peacefully and fairly, and people can exercise their right to vote without fear or intimidation,” he wrote.
Jakhar said the marathon had been organised annually for the past eight years, with thousands of young people participating in the campaign against drugs.
The former state BJP chief also enclosed a copy of the letter of the sub-divisional magistrate, Abohar, stating that no-objection certificate cannot be issued for organising the marathon in view of the current law and order situation in Abohar city.
The October 27 letter was written to the Jakhar Trust, run by the family of Sunil Jakhar. The marathon was to be organised on November 1, Jakhar said while speaking to reporters.
Slamming the AAP government, Jakhar said such a law and order situation is prevailing in the state that even a marathon cannot be organised.
In his letter to the governor, Jakhar said though he opposed this government and its policies, he agreed with “this admission of the bitter truth by the government for the first time”.
“Indeed, the law and order situation in the state has deteriorated to an extremely alarming level. No one is safe. While drugs continue to claim young lives, the terror unleashed by the drug mafia has grown to such an extent that sincere voices speaking out against drugs are being silenced with bullets,” claimed Jakhar.
Lashing out at the Mann government over the law and order situation, he asked whether anybody feels safe in Punjab.
“From Punjab’s holiest city Sri Amritsar Sahib to Tarn Taran, Khem Karan, Gurdaspur, Hargobindpur, Mansa, Abohar, Sangrur and Ludhiana — in fact, across every district and city — people are being killed openly,” he claimed.
The government’s role has become so reprehensible that the police are even forcibly taking away the bodies of children who have died because of drugs from their families, said Jakhar, as he was pointing towards the Mansa incident in which the police took custody of the body of Daljit Singh.
Though Daljit’s family claimed he died of a drug overdose, police maintained that it was a case of murder.
Anyone who protests against drugs before the government or expresses their anguish is either forced to endure police repression or driven to suicide, Jakhar alleged.
He targeted the state government over drug menace, corruption and arms smuggling.
“In such an atmosphere, it will no longer be possible to conduct free, fair and peaceful elections in a border state like Punjab. Given the manner in which this AAP government has continuously vitiated the atmosphere in recent days, the Bhagwant Mann government will, by the time elections are due, have created such fear that citizens will be unable to vote without intimidation.
“Allowing this government more time would amount to permitting further violations of the fundamental and human rights of the people of the state,” Jakhar alleged.
(PTI News)
