Union minister RK Singh has blamed Pakistan’s ISI for the pro-Khalistan activities in the country and said Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh and his associates are being supported by the Pakistan intelligence agency.
In an exclusive interview with News18, RK Singh said, “ISI has been at it for decades. Have seen it from my time as a bureaucrat how Pakistan always gave them patronage. Had asked my Pakistani counterparts to hand over Khalistani’s hiding in Pakistan but they never did.”
On propaganda by rogue elements like Amritpal Singh, the minister said he does not have any “traction because times are different (now) as compared to the 80s. People know the truth”.
The minister also warned parties who may be thinking of protecting Amritpal Singh for political mileage, and said they “must understand that they are playing with fire. This is dangerous”.
Amidst the massive manhunt launched by the Punjab Police last week against Amritpal Singh, pro-Khalistani radicals pulled down the national flag from the Indian High Commission in London on March 19.
The Union minister called the entire incident “unfortunate”, and said he had raised the issue with the UK energy minister. “It is a sovereign pledge by nations to protect diplomats and diplomatic missions. What has happened on friendly soil is unacceptable.”
When asked about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s statement at the Cambridge University in the UK that “Indian democracy is under pressure and under attack”, RK Singh said what he has done is unacceptable and he must apologise to the people of the country. “He cannot get away with it. He has gone to a nation that colonised us and asked for it to intervene in our affairs. He must apologise,” the minister stressed.
He even commented that the Congress leader was booted out of Amethi and then to Wayanad, and said he has doubts if the constituency in Kerala will vote for him. “Parties like the Congress have no currency with the voter. They have been rejected,” he added.
On the Parliament session, which saw the Opposition demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on the Adani issue, RK Singh called it “baseless”, and said Rahul Gandhi should apologise or else he would be expelled from the House.
Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday the only way to end logjam in Parliament is to allow Rahul Gandhi to speak in Lok Sabha and “refuse baseless allegations levelled against him by ministers”.
RK Singh, who has been an IAS officer from Bihar cadre, slammed former chief minister Lalu Yadav for committing “acts of corruption” in the land-for-job case in the state. He said any other person would have been in jail a long time ago, but because it’s Lalu (a Neta), he has been granted bail,” RK Singh said.
He said it was not for the first time that Lalu has been arraigned in a corruption case. In the IRCTC scam, in which his son, Tejashwi Yadav was named, quid pro quo and other favours are well documented. “Show me any other act of corruption that is so clearly documented? Again I say, had it been any other government servant, he would have been in jail long back,” Singh added.
On achieving renewable target of 500 GW by 2030, the minister said the country is already at nearly 250 GW. “Will end up overachieving. We need to add another 125GW capacity purely for Green Hydrocarbon… There will be no load shedding this summer as we have enough power supply.”
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