CHANDIGARH, June 23 (UNI) Not withstanding the hype of the arrests of militants and Khalistan ideologue Sianjit Singh Mann and the Punjab chief minister's controversial visit to a Gurdwara in Canada, senior leaders in the state cutting across party lines were of a firm opinion that 'Khalistan' was no issue in the state.
Unemployment, power crisis, agriculture crisis and privatisation in public sector were the real issues to be dealt with, they felt while talking to UNI on the present political situation in Punjab.
Not only the ruling Congress leaders have time and again stated that the people of Punjab would not acknowledge any separatist approach, which once prevailed in a specific section of the Sikh community in 1980s and early nineties, various Akali factions and the Leftists also asserted that the slogan of Khalistan was no issue in the state now.
Mann was arrested in a sedition case for raising pro-Khalistan slogans at different places earlier this month, while Hawara was arrested by Delhi cops in Patiala in the Delhi cinema hall blasts case.
There were so far 24 arrests shown by the Punjab police in its ongoing operations to look for militants and suspects across the state.
Stating that Khalistan was no issue in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Parkash Singh Badal said that separatism had never been the line of the party.
"We (SAD) never demanded Khalistan in thr entire history of our party," he said.
Badal, however, reiterated his allegation that the Amarinder Singh government was trying to divert the people's attention from "real issues" by disturbing the peace in Punjab.
Punjab deputy chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, ruling out separatism as an issue in the state, said if unemployment and agriculture crisis were not addressed immediately there could be a serious law and order problem in the state.
"The militancy in Punjab can never revive," she said, while blaming the Akalis for the turmoil one and a half decade back.
