Amritsar, April 10
Beleaguered Akalis have again raised the bogey that the “wrong policies” of the Congress government could push the state back to the dark era of violence and repression.

A joint meeting of the political affairs committee, working committee, MPs, MLAs, former MLAs and SGPC members, presided over by Mr Parkash Singh Badal at Gurdas Hall here today alleged that taking a leaf out of Indira Gandhi’s book, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh wanted to throttle political opposition as well as the voice of people by resorting to “undeclared” emergency in the state. The meeting warned the Chief Minister against this “dangerous ploy” and cautioned people of Punjab.

The leaders condemned political vendetta unleashed by the Congress government. Unsure of its standing among the people after “freak and exit-poll manipulated results” of the February Assembly elections, the Congress wanted to weaken the morale of the SAD rank and file by implicating them.

“It is a conspiracy against which every Punjabi must guard”, they said. The SAD and its allies would continue to uphold and safeguard the peace, communal harmony, human rights and civil liberties, they said.

The meeting resolved that the SAD would “force” the government to stick to the agenda of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiat.

Expressing concern over the alleged high-handedness of the Congress government during the Malout byelection, the meeting described happenings as “murder of democracy”.

Another resolution expressed concern over the alleged lack of economic vision on the part of the government.