After sweeping the Punjab Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister–designate Bhagwant Mann held a roadshow in Amritsar on Sunday.
Extending thanks to people on the huge mandate, Mr. Kejriwal said: “..only Punjabis can bring such a revolution in the whole world. Today Punjab’s revolution is being discussed all over the world. The world knew that the people of Punjab are revolutionaries, you proved it again in these elections. All the big leaders, who thought themselves to be too powerful to lose, you broke everyone’s ego.
“After decades, Punjab has got an honest Chief Minister. Bhagwant Mann is staunchly honest. The AAP government will be an honest government. If any of our MLAs or Ministers misuses the power, we will take immediate action against him. On March 16, not only Bhagwant Mann but also all the people of Punjab will become the Chief Minister in Khatkar Kalan. I request you all to come to Khatkar Kalan, the land of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, to grace the swearing-in and start building a new Punjab by participating in that historic ceremony,” he said.
Mr. Kejriwal said the AAP government will take Punjab on the path of progress. “Every penny of public money will be spent on the people. We will fulfill all the guarantees we have promised to the people of Punjab. It may take some time, but no guarantee will be abandoned,” he said.
Mr. Mann said all the traditional parties got together to defeat the AAP but the revolutionary people of Punjab united against them and made it win with an overwhelming majority.
“The AAP government will solve the problems of the common people and ensure their safety. And for the same, we have already withdrawn the security of 122 leaders because now hundreds of those police personnel will be deployed in the service of the public instead of politicians. Seventeen police vehicles were taken back from the leaders. We will get the police to do police work and create a safe environment for the common people,” he said.
Against the backdrop of Mr. Mann’s announcement that the picture of Constitution architect Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh will be installed in all government offices, a former senate member of the Panjab University and honorary advisor, Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre, Delhi, Professor Chaman Lal has urged Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Mann to display only one of his real photographs.
“Only four photos are certified by the family of Bhagat Singh. Sometimes, the Central government and the Punjab government have been using a painting based on unreal pictures of Bhagat Singh in government advertisements, which always has been objected to by Bhagat Singh family members and scholars of freedom struggle,” he wrote in a letter.
Mr. Lal said the Delhi government has already set up the Bhagat Singh Archives and Resource Centre in its Delhi Archives, so the picture can be arranged from there. “The Punjab government shall be truly honoring Bhagat Singh’s legacy and his contribution to the freedom struggle by displaying his real photograph in its offices and advertisements.”
