Machhiwara, Jan 6: Giving a befitting reply to those questioning the nationalistic credentials of Punjab, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday made it clear that Punjabis have never ever shied away from making sacrifices for the nation and are as patriot a race as any other in the country.
Referring to the Wednesday’s incident of Prime Minister Narendra Modi having to go back without addressing the crowd at Ferozepur, the Chief Minister said the fact of the matter was that barely 700 people turned up at rally site which forced the Prime Minister to retrace his steps and later the blame was pinned on the Punjab Government citing security threat to the Prime Minister.
“The truth is that five days before the scheduled rally of the Prime Minister, the Special Protection Group (SPG) took over the landing spot, rally site and each security detail but later on the Prime Minister’s cavalcade suddenly took land route”, said Channi adding the route was cleared by the SPG.
He reiterated that if there is any danger to the Prime Minister then every Punjabi is nationalist enough to shed his blood and face the bullets as they have done before in the service of the nation.
Sounding a note of caution, Channi asked the forces inimical to Punjab to stop defaming the State. He questioned what the intelligence paraphernalia around the Prime Minister doing had they sensed any threat perception to the latter’s safety.
Likewise, he asked the anti-Punjab forces to shun vendetta politics and advised them to ponder over why the people especially farmers do not like them.
