Following the humiliation caused by all the infights and chaos, Captain Amarinder Singh had resigned from the aged-old Congress party. Ever since Capt Amarinder made his way out of the party, there has been a rift between him and the Congress. However, Capt Amarinder has made up his mind to give it back to the age-old party as the latter keeps trying to cut him to size on various grounds.
Congress’s attempt to corner Amarinder
Aroosa Alam, a Pakistani defence journalist and the daughter of a Pakistani politician, shares a great bond with Captain Amarinder ever since they met for the first time in 2004. Thus, the Congress party, bereft of any issue to attack Capt Amarinder after he left the party, made a failed attempt to use the bond between Aroosa and Amarinder to attack the latter. Needless to say, the Congress was silent on this when Captain Amarinder-led Punjab Congress and was Punjab’s Chief Minister.
A few days back, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa took to Twitter to inform that “the police will carry out an investigation into former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s Pakistani journalist friend Aroosa Alam and her ISI links.”
Prior to this, Randhawa had deleted a tweet in Punjabi that said, “Orders to probe alleged connection of Aroosa Alam with Pakistani spy agency ISI have been issued”. Earlier in the evening, Randhawa had deleted a tweet in Punjabi in which he had said “orders to probe alleged connection of Aroosa Alam with Pakistani spy agency ISI have been issued”.
Amarinder defended her Pakistani friend
Soon after Randhawa made the derogatory comments on Aroosa to target Amarinder, the latter stepped in with the decision to give it back to them in their style. In such a move, the media adviser to Amarinder Singh took to Twitter and posted a picture that displayed Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Aroosa Alam shaking hands, “Just by the way.”
Just by the way. (File photo). @Sukhjinder_INC @INCPunjab @CHARANJITCHANNI @INCIndia pic.twitter.com/NxrrZZT4ic
— Raveen Thukral (@Raveen64) October 22, 2021
Amarinder, on Saturday, also posted photos of former Punjab DGP Mohammad Mustafa’s wife and daughter-in-law with Aroosa Alam. He wrote, “Mixing politics with friendship! Aroosa Alam personally cherishes these and many more such memories with your family.”
‘And how about you explaining this @MohdMustafaips. Isn't that your wife & daughter-in-law with the same lady? How low can you get? Mixing politics with friendship! #AroosaAlam
personally cherishes these & many more such memories with your family’: @capt_amarinder pic.twitter.com/rvC3u6laJb— Raveen Thukral (@Raveen64) October 23, 2021
In addition to that, hitting back on Randhawa, Amarinder also asserted, “As his cabinet colleague, I had never heard Randhawa complain about Aroosa.”
Amarinder via Raveen Thukral’s tweet also said, “Aroosa had been coming for 16 years with due GoI clearances.” He further asked, “Or are you alleging that both NDA and @INCIndia led UPA govts in this period connived with Pak ISI?”
‘You were a minister in my cabinet @Sukhjinder_INC. Never heard you complain about Aroosa Alam. And she’d been coming for 16 years with due GoI clearances. Or are you alleging that both NDA and @INCIndia led UPA govts in this period connived with Pak ISI?’: @capt_amarinder 2/3
— Raveen Thukral (@Raveen64) October 22, 2021
Taking a dig at the current state government, Amarinder said, “Instead of focusing on maintaining law & order at a time when terror threat is high and festivals are around the corner, you’ve put @DGPPunjabPolice on a baseless investigation at the cost of Punjab’s safety. One month after taking over this is all you have to show to the people. What happened to your tall promises on Bargari & drugs cases? Punjab is still waiting for your promised action.”
“Those who are his detractors today, once sat at his feet” – Aroosa Alam
Meanwhile, Aroosa also came out in support of her friend, Amarinder. Appreciating Captain, Alam said that she was proud that Amarinder had acknowledged their friendship in front of the world.
“Those who are his detractors today sat at his feet till yesterday. They are hyenas; when they see a big prey, their first thought is to tear it to pieces to devour it. I will not forgive them and will definitely take them to court over this defamation,” she said.
Earlier, the journalist had also asserted that she was “extremely disappointed and disgusted with Punjab Congress politicians” and would “never come back to India” as she was “hurt and heartbroken”.
Amarinder Singh has been one of the tallest leaders in Punjab for several decades now. Being a nationalist in the Congress party is perhaps the main reason why Singh could not capitalise on his governance dream to the fullest. However, Congress’s attempts to cut him to size are going to reflect badly on the party, which further will lead to its complete sweep in the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections.