Bajwa, Manpreet oppose govt move to revive anti-protest bill
Thursday, 10/07/2014
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IN BATHINDA, PEOPLE SHOWED BLACK FLAGS TO HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL. PUNJAB CANNOT BE TURNED INTO A POLICE STATE TO CURB THIS KIND OF DISSENT MANPREET BADAL, PPP president
CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa and People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) president Manpreet Singh Badal have opposed the move of the Parkash Singh Badal government to revive the “draconian and anti-people legislation” putting curbs on protests and demonstrations.
The cabinet on Tuesday had approved the Punjab Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property Bill, which is on the pattern of a legislation that was adopted on October 12, 2010, but then withdrawn in the face of strong public opposition.
“This legislation barred protests, demonstrations and rallies without permission from the state government. This is a direct attack on the fundamental rights of the people and against all democratic norms,” said Bajwa in a press statement issued here on Wednesday.
He said the “black law” was reminiscent of the days of slavery during the British colonial regime.
He warned the Badal government against going ahead with the bill in the coming budget session of the assembly, since the Congress would oppose it at every level. He called upon all the “secular and democratic forces” to unite against the move.
Holding the same views, PPP president Manpreet Singh Badal said the right to protest was fundamental in a democracy. “It is ironic that the Shioromani Akali Dal, which now wants to ban protests, has a long history of agitations since 1920 and many of its leaders have been political prisoners before and after Independence. The second oldest political party has made a break from the past and shed all pretence of democratic ethos,” he said. Failing in governance and ruled by the mafia, the Akali regime had become corrupt, said the PPP leader.
“In Bathinda, people dared to even show black flags to ruling party candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal, as village after village boycotted her. Punjab cannot be turned into a police state to curb this kind of dissent,” the PPP president added.
