Malerkotla (Pb): Former chief minister and Punjab Lok Congress president Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said he was not against the people of Pakistan but their rulers and the Army who were “fomenting trouble” here and killing Indian soldiers on the borders.
Addressing public meetings in support of party candidates Farzana Alam from Malerkotla and Sardar Ali from Amargarh here, Singh said, these elections were going to decide the future of Punjab as the state was confronted by multiple challenges which could be faced by a “double engine” government only.
Singh’s PLC is fighting the February 20 polls in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power at the centre, and Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt).
The term “double engine” is used by BJP leaders to refer to the party being in power at the Centre as well as in a state.
Before independence, about 40 per cent of the population of Patiala was Muslim and most of them migrated to Pakistan, Singh said as he recalled how he was honoured and felicitated in the neighbouring country during his visit there in 2004 as the Punjab chief minister.
I am all for a good relationship between the two countries, but the Pakistani prime minister and his army are being too hostile towards India which is unacceptable, Singh said.