AAP has condemned the controversial statement of opposition leader Pratap Singh Bajwa on Aam Aadmi Party MLA Labh Singh Ugoke and termed that statement as insulting to the Dalit community.
Addressing a press conference at the Chandigarh party headquarters on Monday, senior AAP leader and Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that Pratap Bajwa has insulted the entire Dalit community with his comments on Labh Singh Ugoke.
Bajwa has expressed his narrow mindedness towards the poor and Dalit people. In fact, these people are not able to digest how those whom they used to consider lower than them became MLAs and how they are sitting in front of them in the assembly.
Cheema said that people like Pratap Bajwa hate the poor. His statement also proved that his heart is full of hatred towards the poor and downtrodden. They don't even consider Dalits as human beings.
Harpal Cheema said that the entire opposition is scared of the decisions being taken by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for the progress of Punjab and the campaign to rid the state of corruption and mafia. Unnerved, the leaders of Akali-Congress keep on making such statements.Cheema while praising MLA Labh Singh Ugoke said that Ugoke is a hardworking and young leader who is working for the progress of Punjab.
Labh Singh Ugoke defeated the then Congress Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in the 2022 assembly elections by a margin of more than 38 thousand votes. Cheema further said that today most of the leaders who have become legislators and ministers in the AAP government come from Dalit, backward and poor families.
Everyone struggled with tough circumstances and worked hard to get where they are today. People who were born rich or in power are unable to digest the upliftment of commoners.The Finance Minister warned Pratap Singh Bajwa and asked him to apologize for his statement in a week.
At the same time, he appealed to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to take strict action against Pratap Bajwa.
People like Bajwa consider Dalits as material, this narrow mindedness of them was rejected by the people of Punjab in 2022 – Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO
Cabinet minister Harbhajan Singh ETO, who was present on the occasion, also termed Pratap Bajwa's statement as unfortunate and said that Bajwa does not consider Dalits as human beings but material things because he said that 'don't know which material is sitting in front of us!'
While he should know that we are the representatives of millions of people, not 'material'. Through the right given in the constitution made by Babasaheb Ambedkar, all of us are elected MLAs. Through his statement, Bajwa has expressed his narrow mindedness.
ETO said that people like Pratap Bajwa think that we can buy these landless, poor people whenever we want, sell whenever we want, they will never say anything. We are neither going to bow down nor on sale. He said that the people of Punjab rejected this mentality of Akali-Congress in 2022.
If Pratap Bajwa had insulted only me, I would have tolerated, but he insulted all the hard working people - Labh Singh Ugoke
During the press conference, MLA Labh Singh Ugoke, while replying to Pratap Bajwa's statement, said that if Pratap Bajwa had only insulted me, I would have tolerated it, but he has insulted all the people who work hard to earn their livelihood.
He said that Bajwa has insulted the hardworking people who were praised even by Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The venom and anger towards the laborers, Dalits and the poor is clearly visible in his statement.
Ugoke said that today I am an MLA only because of the people of Bhadaur and the Aam Aadmi Party because they gave a chance to a poor and ordinary person like me. The people who were born with a silver spoon are not able to digest how we are sitting in front of them in the assembly.
Expressing his gratitude to Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, Ugoke said that today, thanks to him, we, Dalit community, have got equal rights in the constitution. Ugoke demanded a public apology from Pratap Bajwa and asked him to take back his words.
On this occasion, cabinet ministers Dr. Baljit Kaur, Harbhajan Singh ETO, DCP Balkar Singh and Lalchand Kataruchak and MLAs Manjit Singh Bilaspuri, Principal Budhram, Sarabjit Kaur Manunke, Kulwant Singh Pandori, Dr. Charanjit Singh Channi, Rupinder Singh Happy, Hakam Singh Thekedar, Manvinder Singh Gyaspura, Dr.Ravjot Singh and Amolak Singh were also present.