Chandigarh: Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Sunday said the special session convened by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) govt on April 13 to enact a new law against the sacrilege was “only an attempt to cover up its failure to punish the guilty even after being in power for four years”.In a written statement, Warring asked, “Why did the AAP fail to punish those responsible for the sacrilege and later killing of the protestors?”He stated, “The special session will be yet another theatrical presentation by the AAP, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” He accused the AAP of using “special sessions” to “deflect public attention and wriggle through the difficult situations from time to time.”Warring stated, “If the AAP govt’s intentions were really sincere, it would have held deliberations with the stakeholders, scholars and legal experts before drafting such a law, which has not only emotional and sentimental significance for the Punjabi community but also long-term future implications.”Alleging “open understanding between the AAP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) with the patronage of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue”, Warring added, “Otherwise, why did the AAP govt not take any action against the guilty, when SAD president Sukhbir Badal himself confessed to the guilt in front of the Akal Takht?”He stated the AAP leaders, particularly its supremo Arvind Kejriwal, made “boastful claims before the 2022 Assembly elections that those guilty of sacrilege will be punished within 24 hours.” But four years have passed and the guilty are roaming scot free, he told the AAP leadership.Warring further said, “Mere enactment of laws does not lead to any deterrence, if there is no punishment. So much so, the AAP’s poster boy against sacrilege, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, has been completely sidelined from the party and he is on the verge of resigning.”Taking on the BJP, he asked, “Why has its govt at the Centre still not notified the stringent anti-sacrilege law passed unanimously by Punjab Vidhan Sabha way back in 2016?” He also asked the AAP govt “why it did not pursue the matter with the Centre all these years.” He further questioned, “What is the guarantee that the new law that the AAP will enact will not meet the same fate?”Warring also noted, “Like the Akali govt brought a similar law in 2016, just ahead of the end of its term, the AAP was doing the same thing now, just a few months before its term and regime were going to end in Punjab for good.”
