Congress MP Manish Tewari on Friday appeared to rebuke Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi for allegedly using a derogatory term for people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Earlier this week, Channi had appealed to voters to not let “bhaiya” from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi enter Punjab. While the Congress claimed the remark was aimed at AAP leaders, the BJP and AAP lashed out at the chief minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the comments at a rally and asked Channi whether he could use such language for “the land where Guru Ravidas and Sikh Guru Gobind Singh were born”.
Manish Tewari, who is the MP for Anandpur Sahib, tweeted about the secular and tolerant ethos of Punjab. He wrote, “The Bhaiya controversy is like the Black issue in the US . It is reflective of an unfortunate systemic & institutionalised social bias against migrants stretching back to the inception of the Green Revolution.”
Referring to his own family, Tewari wrote, “At a personal level Despite my mother being a Jat Sikh & my father being the foremost exponent of Punjab - Punjabi- Punjabiyat who laid down his life for Hindu- Sikh amity because of my Sir name it is said behind my back ‘ Eh Bhaiya Kithon Agha’ peppered with the choicest expletives in Punjabi - We have to root it out.”
Tewari argued “Such thinking should have no place in the Secular ethos of Punjab grounded in the idiom - Manas Ki Jaat Sabhe Ek Pechan.”
Tewari is a member of the G-23 group of Congress leaders who have been lobbying for reform in the party. He has also been critical of the factionalism in the Punjab unit.
also read
- Kejriwal not given amenities provided even to hardcore criminals: Punjab CM Mann
- Breather for flora and fauna of Sukhna sanctuary as eco-sensitive zone set to be demarcated
- Punjab: Why BJP's decision to step out of Akali Dal's shadow is a tactical move
- Why Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance failed to materialise in Punjab
On Thursday, Tewari expressed shock at the Congress decision to expel former MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon for “anti-party” activities. Tewari wrote, “Shocked to read @KewalDhillonINC summarily expelled from @INCIndia without even as much as a notice When no one was prepared to invest a Penny in Punjab during days of Terror he brought @PepsiCo to Punjab in 1980’s.He was a Congressman when it was an invitation to Assasination.”
On Thursday, ANI aired remarks by Tewari in which he claimed he had no plans to quit, unless others wanted him out. “I have said this earlier also. I am not a kirayedar (tenant) but a rishtedar (partner) in the Congress party. Agar koi dhakke mar kar bahar nikalega (if anyone wants to push me out), that's a different thing. But as far as I am concerned, I have given 40 years of my life to this party. Our family has shed blood for the sake of the country's unity. If anyone wants to push me out, that is a different matter,” Tewari told ANI.
