Caste slur: Punjab Congress demands Valtoha’s arrest; statewide protests on Sunday

Chandigarh : Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday demanded immediate arrest of Akali legislator Virsa Singh Valtoha for his alleged caste slur against the party’s senior Dalit leader and MLA Tarlochan Soond inside the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. He said that if Valtoha was not arrested, the Congress would hold statewide demonstrations at block level on Sunday to protest the incident.”If anyone else would have made such remarks he would have immediately been arrested, why not Valtoha?” he asked with complainant Congress leader Tarlochan Soon on his side.
‘WHY IS SPEAKER SILENT’
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, Captain Amarinder questioned the silence of Vidhan Sabha speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal over the issue. The Congress leader also criticised Speaker Atwal for summarily dismissing Soond’s complaint without ordering an inquiry.
He alleged that despite himself being a Dalit, Atwal and other Dalit leaders from Akali Dal and BJP turned a deaf ear to the incident in order to keep their chances of getting election tickets alive.
‘CRIMINALS ARE BEING ENCOURAGED’
The former Chief Minister expressed apprehension that the upcoming assembly elections might be violent in the state. He said that so many criminal gangs are active in Punjab as the government made the parole norms for criminals easy.