25052024-JTR-01.qxd 5/25/2024 1:08 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune 2 DRUG PEDDLERS ARRESTED, INTOXICANT CAPSULES SEIZED ACTRESS DEEPIKA PADUKONE SHINES IN YELLOW DRESS MADHURI TREATS KARTIK AARYAN RASMALAI The police arrested two drug peddlers and recovered 850 intoxicant capsules and two motorcycles from them. P2 Deepika Padukone, who is expecting her first child with Ranveer Singh, stepped out in Mumbai on Friday. P4 Kartik Aaryan was treated with his rasmalai by Madhuri Dixit, judge of reality show Dance Deewane. P4 » » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 44°C | MIN 30°C YESTERDAY MAX 44°C | MIN 30°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7:14 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5:25 AM » SATURDAY | 25 MAY 2024 | JALANDHAR If I have seen Beant Singh in anyone, it is Modi, says Bittu INBRIEF TWO ARRESTED FOR SNATCHING AMRITSAR RESIDENT NABBED FOR THEFT Phagwara: The Nakodar city police have arrested an Amritsar resident on the charge of stealing purses, cash and other valuables from people at busy places. Investigating officer (IO) Rajinder Singh said the suspect had been identified as Pardeep Kumar, alias Mattu, a resident of Milap Avenue, Kale Ghannu Pur, falling under the Chheherta police station. The IO said the police got a tip-off that the suspect was involved in theft at busy places and was waiting at the bus stand to flee. The police conducted a raid and arrested him. The IO said a case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered against the suspect. OC VILLAGER ATTACKED WITH WEAPONS Phagwara: The Shahkot police have booked unidentified persons on the charge of assaulting a person. Gagandeep Singh, a resident of Akbar Pur Kalan village, told the police that the suspects barged into his house on the night of May 11 and attacked him with weapons. Investigating officer Buta Ram said a case under Sections 324, 452 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against unidentified persons. OC INDIA VOTES 2024 Aparna Banerji BSP candidates during the rally of party supremo Mayawati; and (below) workers take away huge flexes while returning home after the rally in Nawanshahr on Friday. PHOTOS: SARABJIT SINGH BSP workers, supporters carry flexes of leaders home after rally Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Nawanshahr, May 24 A unique trend was observed soon after the rally of BSP supremo Mayawati ended at Nawanshahr this afternoon. The moment the party chief left the stage and workers started coming out, many of them were seen walking past the road carrying huge 10-feet flexes of the leaders over their heads. When curiously quizzed as to where they were taking these flexes of Mayawati, party founder Kanshi Ram and the architect of Indian Constitution Dr BR Ambedkar, many of them said that they were going to put these in their drawing room. Asked if they did not find them too big, Pardeep, a middle-aged supporter from Nurmahal in Jalandhar said, “We shall get them fitted somehow. They shall surely adorn our houses, if not inside then at the entrance or as backdrop to our covered frontal verandahs.” A villager from Ahlowal, Malwinder, who took help from two young boys to carry the flex to his vehicle, said, “We have built a new hall in our village. We want to deck up its main wall. I shall put up this SLOGANS CHANTED Several slogans were chanted during the rally, the most common being ‘Jai Bheem, Jai Bharat’. In praise of party supremo, the slogans used were ‘Desh ki neta kaisi ho, Mayawati jaisi ho’ and ‘Bhenji tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare sath hain’ and ‘Bahujan ke samman mein, Bhenji maidan mein’. full-size poster of our revered leader Kanshi Ram there.” Other than the flexes of these big leaders, the posters of social reformers like Narayan Guru, Chhatrapati Shahu and Jyotiba Rao Phule were also put up to invoke their spirit. Mayawati took the names of all these leaders in her speech. As the workers were pulling out these flexes, the members of a task force of about 100 party workers from Punjab, Delhi and UP who had been managing the crowds and ensuring that there was complete discipline also did not stop them from taking them away. Continued on page 2 Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 24 The BJP candidate from Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat Ravneet Bittu today said during the Prime Minister’s Jalandhar rally that PM Modi reminded him of his grandfather, former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. He also said that Modi had freed the land of Ram from “occupiers”. While the PM targeted the AAP and Congress primarily during his address today and also recalled his affinity to Jalandhar, BJP leaders Sunil Jakhar and Ravneet Bittu gave strong speeches aggressively targeting the Congress. Jakhar, in his speech, said the Congress had badmouthed migrants in 2022 Assembly elections too. He also targeted Sangrur candidate Sukhpal Khaira of the Congress claiming that the party was ‘anti-migrant’. Speaking about labourers, Jakhar said “When you talk of mazdoors, one recalls the ideology of Congress leaders. In the 2022 elections, the Congress leaders had badmouthed the migrant brothers from UP and Bihar. Today, the Congress’ Sangrur candidate says we won’t let votes be made of our brothers from UP and Bihar. Due to them, our industry and migrants are going to UP in such an atmosphere of chaos. The BJP brought the CAA, which promises that our brethren who were left behind in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and TRIBUNE PHOTOS: MALKIAT SINGH Phagwara: The Mehat Pur police have arrested two persons for snatching cash and a mobile phone from a woman. Investigating officer (IO) Davinder Singh said the suspects had been identified as Amarjit Singh, a resident of Rai Pur village, and Satpal, alias Pala, a resident of Vehran village. Neha, a resident of Mohalla Khurla Pur, Mehat Pur, told the police that while she was returning home on May 23, two motorcycle-borne miscreants snatched his purse containing ~30,000 and a mobile phone. The IO said a case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered against the suspects. The police also recovered the mobile phone and ~560 from him. OC PM TARGETS AAP, CONGRESS While the PM targeted the AAP and Congress primarily during his address on Friday and also recalled his affinity to Jalandhar, BJP leaders Sunil Jakhar and Ravneet Bittu gave strong speeches aggressively targeting the Congress. BJP leaders honour PM Narendra Modi; and (left) women supporters after the rally at the PAP on Friday. Pakistan will get citizenship. The Congress opposed it, saying don’t give citizenship to them. But they say they don’t want our migrant brethren to have voting rights. They have double standards.” Said Bittu, “When I saw Modi ji sporting the saffron turban today, I thought that if I have seen Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Beant Singh in anyone, it is Modi sahib.” Praising the BJP Bittu said, , “Ask anyone, they say we need Modi, we need the BJP , we need a CM like Yogi. People who sell drugs and intoxicants, after seeing a leader like Modi, they can’t muster courage to touch anyone. Yesterday Modi Sahib said religious things. For 550 years, our Ram ji had been ousted from his land. A section had occupied that land. No one dared to remove that occupation. Ram ji di kirpa kihde te hoyi? (Who did Ram ji bless?) Raise your hands and tell me.” To this, people chanted in response, “Modi.” Bittu continued “Today, the Congress party should be ashamed. They received invitation to the Ram Mandir consecration and Gurdwara. The Ram Mandir committee had sent them an invitation. This is why you are in for bad karma. This is why the Congress party ended. It’s your karma, that you say you don’t want to go to the temple or gurdwara. You boycott the Ram Mandir. If they can boycott the Ram Mandir, raise your hands and say you will boycott the Congress party,” Bittu told the audience, which was met with cheers. Earlier, Sunil Jakhar also said, “There was again a jaanlewa hamla (fatal attack) against BJP’s Faridkot candidate Hans Raj Hans. Some people who referred to themselves as farmers, attacked him. This isn’t good for democracy. But some people are defaming farmers to run their shop. I’ll ask people to beware of these so-called leaders. Those who are misleading the farmers, if anything untoward happens, these leaders will absolve themselves and blame the farmers. Don’t give them the chance.” Phagwara: The police arrested a liquor trader and recovered 12 bottles of illicit liquor from his possession on Thursday night. The suspect has been identified as Pawan Kumar, a resident of Onkar Nagar. A case under the Punjab Excise Act has been registered. OC 2 killed, 4 injured in road accident Phagwara, May 24 Two persons died on the spot while four others suffered serious injuries after the car in which they were travelling rammed into a tractor-trailer from the rear near Phillaur here yesterday. The car occupants were on their way to Ludhiana. The car, bearing registration number PB-01E-7124, was badly damaged in the accident. All injured persons were brought to a hospital in Phillaur. Sarwan Kumar and Baibav succumbed to their injuries. Four others persons — Arya, Surinder, Sunita and Gautam — were undergoing treatment at a hospital. Traffic on the highway remained disrupted for half an hour after the accident. — OC Farmers detained ahead of PM’s visit to Jalandhar Deepkamal Kaur MAN HELD WITH ILLEGAL LIQUOR Atwal father-son duo not allowed to reach PM’s rally Jalandhar, May 24 The police today arrested and detained farmer leaders from various parts of Doaba region since morning as a preventive measure to ensure the peaceful visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Senior leaders from Punjab like Manjit Singh Rai, president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba), Satnam Sahni, Kashmir Singh etc were detained by the police. The situation was similar in Nawanshahr where the president of Istri Jagriti Manch and others were also detained. Following this, various unions came out in their support and held a dharna Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 24 Inder Iqbal Atwal, BJP candidate for the Jalandhar 2023 Lok Sabha bypoll, has said that he and his father Charanjit Singh Atwal were not allowed to reach the venue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at PAP here today. Charanjit Atwal, an octogenarian and former Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha and former Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, too, reportedly kept on pleading before the police deployed at the PAP to let them inside the rally venue, but the pleas remained unheard. Junior Atwal said: “We received a call from the party stating that we were in the list of invitees who would be seated on the stage. After reaching the PAP we kept on , telling an SP on duty that we should be allowed to proceed, but he showed us a list in which our names were missing. We kept calling the BJP higher-ups, but there seemed to be a network jam and calls were not getting through. Unable to work on either way, we chose to return back”. He said: “I really felt bad for my aged father who kept on pleading to be allowed to move ahead despite holding top posts in Punjab and at the national level. I shall definite- Found their names missing in list of invitees at venue FELT BAD FOR MY AGED FATHER ❝ I really felt bad for my aged father who kept on pleading to be allowed to move ahead despite holding top posts in Punjab and at the national level. I shall definitely take up the matter with Punjab BJP incharge Vijay Rupani. Since I also hold the charge of the vice-president of the Ludhiana election committee, there was no reason that my name went missing from the list. ❞ Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Farmers hold a protest ahead of PM Narendra Modi's rally in Jalandhar on Friday. SARABJIT SINGH outside the police stations. Notably, the farmer unions had planned to organise a peaceful protest against the Prime Minister. Members of the Pendu Mazdoor Union reached outside the police station and claimed that around 60 farmers were detained by the police when they (farmers) were going to Jalandhar to hold a peaceful protest against Prime Minister Modi. “This was a peaceful protest. We do not wish to fight with the PM. Still, we were treated in this manner,” said Manjit Singh Rai, president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba). Rajwinder Kaur, president of Mahila Kisan Union, was also allegedly detained in her house. “We knew something like this would happen. We had planned to go to the venue where the PM was to address the rally by holding black flags,” she added. Another farmer leader said that first they weren’t allowed to go to Delhi and now they were not allowed to move in their own home. Cong will create better future for youth: Sachin Pilot Tribune News Service Inder Iqbal Atwal ly take up the matter with Punjab BJP in-charge Vijay Rupani. Since I also hold the charge of the vice-president of the Ludhiana election committee, there was no reason that my name went missing from the list.” Atwals have been Akali leaders till they joined the BJP last year. Charanjit Atwal has been MP from Phillaur, while Inder Iqbal Atwal is former MLA from the Payal Assembly segment. Say they only wanted to hold a peaceful protest Balachaur, May 24 Sachin Pilot, senior Congress leader and former Deputy CM of Rajasthan, urged voters not to be misled by anyone and to ensure Congress candidate Vijay Inder Singla’s victory from Shri Anandpur Sahib. Pilot pledged to stand alongside Singla in Parliament to resolve the issues of people. “We have known Singla’s family for years and had good relations with his father. This family has always c m y b Urges voters not to be misled by anyone Congress leader Sachin Pilot with party candidate Vijay Inder Singla during a rally at Balachaur in Nawanshahr. TRIBUNE PHOTO been dedicated to solving people’s problems, and in terms of work, Singla has no equal,” Pilot stated. Addressing a rally in the Balachaur Assembly constituency of Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha today, Pilot emphasised that Singla worked very hard and had the capacity to work 24×7. He took a jibe at the BJP that it was not even allowed to enter the villages of Punjab and Haryana. “The BJP seeks votes solely in the name of religion. So, people of all communities must use their votes wisely. Today, ED, CBI, Income Tax, and Vigilance are being misused. They talk about the Congress-free India, a party that sacrificed everything to free the country,” Pilot said. Pilot highlighted that it was the Congress that first enacted the MNREGA law, guaranteeing 100 days of employment, and if the government was formed, they would provide a daily wage of Rs 400. “Inflation is at its peak today. We will give Rs 8,333 per month to poor families. The Continued on page 2