Won't let BJP disturb peaceful atmosphere of Punjab, says Amarinder

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], October 23 (ANI): Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to divide the society along the caste lines to promote their political interests, and said that he would not allow them to impose their vicious agenda on the state.
"I will not let them disturb the peaceful atmosphere of Punjab at any cost. These divisive tactics will never succeed in Punjab, whose people are happily living together for their collective progress," the Chief Minister said referring to BJP's 'Dalit Insaf Yatra' on Thursday, which according to an official release of Punjab government, BJP took out without taking due permissions.
"The BJP, said Captain Amarinder, had no moral right to talk about Dalit rights, which they had been brazenly trampling wherever they were in power. He pointed to the shocking statistics that showed that Uttar Pradesh, under BJP rule, accounts for over 25 per cent of the total cases of atrocities against Schedule Caste (SC) people in the country, and had recorded the highest number of such incidents in 2018," the release said.
According to Punjab Chief Minister, BJP is finding itself totally cornered over the 'draconian, anti-farmer and unconstitutional Farm Laws,' and is indulging in 'theatrics and mis-propaganda' with the motive of diverting public attention.
"The fact is that the party has completely failed the farmers and also the SC students, whom its national leadership had deprived of access to higher education by abruptly withdrawing from the central post-matric scholarship scheme," he said.
Captain Amarinder Singh further said that BJP is rattled over the state government's successful launch of its own scholarship scheme for SC students.
"Despite suffering Rs 800 crore in losses due to the anti-Dalit decision of the BJP-led Union Government, the cash-strapped Punjab government had not only introduced a new scheme - B R Ambedkar SC Post-Matric Scholarship - for SC students but even expanded its ambit to benefit more youngsters, BJP clearly could not digest this," the Chief Minister said.
He further said that bereft of any justification for its anti-people acts, the BJP was now resorting to the `divide and rule' tactics which the British had used to keep the people of India in shackles for nearly century, and added that today's India was not the India of the 19th century, and the BJP would never succeed in its divisive politics.
"We Punjabis will sacrifice anything, as we did during the freedom struggle, to protect our unity and integrity, which forms the ethos of the Indian Constitution. The people of Punjab will not be taken in by your theatrics," the Chief Minister said," the Chief Minister added. (ANI)