At Punjab poll rally, Modi cites Saint Ravidas to slam Channi’s ‘bhaiye’ remark

Narendra Modi, the
Indian prime minister, lashed out at Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh
Channi over his “UP, Bihar ke bhaiye” remark while speaking at a campaign rally
in Punjab on Thursday. “What the Congress Chief Minister said here, on which
the family from Delhi was clapping, the entire country has seen,” the prime
minister said.

“Where was Guru Govind Singh born? In
Patna Sahib, in Bihar. Will you throw Guru Govind Singh out of Punjab? People
of such divisive mentality should not be allowed to rule Punjab even for one
moment,” said the prime minister.

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“Only yesterday we observed Sant Ravidas
Jayanti. Where was he born? In Uttar Pradesh, in Varanasi. Will you remove Sant
Ravidas from Punjab,” he said.

The prime minister’s comments in
poll-bound Punjab came in response to Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s
remark during a roadshow in the presence of senior Congress leader Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra.

At the roadshow, Channi said, “Priyanka
Gandhi is Punjab’s daughter-in-law, she is the bahu of Punjabis. Bhaiyas from
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi cannot come here and rule. We will not allow UP bhaiyas
to stray into Punjab,” according to an NDTV report.

Slamming the ruling party in Punjab,
Modi said, “Congress always pits people of one region against others so that
their car keeps on moving…There will not be any village here where our brothers
and sisters from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are not toiling.”

Punjab goes to polls to elect is
117-member Assembly on February 20. Of the five states going to polls over
February and March, Punjab is the only state without an incumbent BJP
government.

The
Congress government in Punjab has been through a lot of instability with
Captain Amarinder Singh resigning and starting out on his own with the Punjab
Lok Congress in alliance with the BJP and reports of rifts between Charanjit
Singh Channi and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.