Chandigarh, (SW) Even as he questioned Shriomani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal’s logic in interpreting his criticism of CAA as being “anti-Sikh”, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday sent him a copy of ‘Mein Kampf’, advising him to read Adolf Hitler’s autobiography to understand dangerous implications of the unconstitutional legislation.
Given the current attempts by the Centre to replicate Hitler’s agenda in India, it was important for the SAD leaders to read the German Nazi leader’s autobiography before coming out with “irrational reactions” on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), said the Chief Minister.
The recent statements of various Akali leaders, including Sukhbir, clearly exposed their ignorance on this sensitive issue, with grave repercussions for the nation, said Amarinder Singh, urging Sukhbir to read the book and decide “whether it’s country first or political expediency”.
“Supporting the bill in both houses of Parliament and in the Vidhan Sabha and opposing it on other platforms is unbecoming of a political leader,” the Chief Minister said in a letter sent to Sukhbir along with the book.
In the letter, Amarinder recalled that during the last Vidhan Sabha session, he had promised to send the SAD copies of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’, which in English translates to ‘My Struggle’.
“These were his (Hitler’s) beliefs which he sold to the German people in his rise to power, which later became his government’s policy, when his Nazi party assumed office,” wrote the Chief Minister, adding that “apart from destroying Germany in World War II, to fulfil his territorial ambition, from the time he assumed office in 1933 to the end of the war in 1945, his purification of the German race by his ethnic cleansing, led initially to the removal of his main opposition, the Communist parties, followed by persecution of intellectuals, and finally to the extermination of the Jews.”
“Read the book, as one always learns from history. The world has changed and our television and other media are powerful, and certainly different to that of Germany in the 1930s under Joseph Goebbels. Nevertheless, the talk of camps and a national register to eliminate the Muslim and Jewish communities is ominous,” Amarinder wrote.
He said while some of the political parties, including the Congress, were protesting everyday along with universities across the country, “it is time now that others too join this movement.”
Meanwhile, taking the SAD president head-on, the Chief Minister in a statement here, also asked him to explain how his (Amarinder’s) demand for the Akalis to quit NDA over the CAA amounted to “subservience” to the Gandhi family.
“Or are you trying to say that the lakhs of people out on the streets to protest against the CAA are doing so simply out of subservience to the Gandhi family,” he asked Sukhbir.
Retorting to Sukhbir’s “saving his chair” jab, the Chief Minister said his chair was quite secure.
“But apparently, you are worried about your wife Harsimrat Badal’s chair in the Union Cabinet and do not want her to lose that at any cost,” said Amarinder, adding this could be the reason for the SAD refusing to walk out of the NDA despite claiming to take a stand against the CAA.
