Punjab CM makes sharp jibe against 'jumlebaaz' PM Modi after Gurdaspur rally

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the "worst leader India has seen since Independence". The stinging attack came a day after Modi's outburst against the Congress on loan waiver, 1984 riots and other issues. Singh challenged the prime minister to cite "even one instance of a promise fulfilled by his government in the past five years". "The 'jumlebaaz' prime minister has brought the nation to its nadir with his deceptions and fabrications, and was staring at his moment of judgement at the hands of the people, who are set to throw him out of power for good," he said while referring to Modi's Gurdaspur rally on Thursday.

"One wonders with what face Modi intends to go back to the people of India to seek re-election a few weeks from now," he quipped, dubbing the prime minister "the worst leader India has seen since independence". The Punjab chief minister minced no words in taking on Modi over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots issue, questioning the PM's "studious silence on the BJP/RSS workers named in the Tilak Marg police station FIR related to the worst violence perpetrated against the Sikhs, while trying desperately to drag the Gandhi family into the matter even though no fingers had been pointed at them".

At the Gurdaspur rally, Modi had attacked the Congress on several issues. He had accused the Congress of protecting those involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The senior Congress leader also took a dig at the prime minister over the latter "taking credit" for the Kartarpur Corridor issue. On the crop loan waiver issue, Singh said despite the fiscal mess inherited by his government from the previous SAD-BJP regime, Punjab had managed to waive Rs 3,417 crore of crop loans of 4,14,275 farmers in just one year.

"Another 3 lakh farmers will be given crop loan waiver to the tune of about Rs 4,000 crore soon," he said. The chief minister also questioned the prime minister on his promise for jobs for the youth, doubling of farm income and women's reservation.

(With inputs from agencies.)