Have to make it Punjab again, not Afghanistan: Bhagwant Mann

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, in a video message in Punjabi, on Friday assured that his government would not let anyone cause unrest in the state. Mann reiterated that it was his responsibility to ensure that peace and communal brotherhood is maintained, and "we want to make the state Punjab again, and not Afghanistan".
The chief minister said some self-proclaimed religious leaders who have nothing to do with the state and its people want to disturb its peace and amity, but "such evil designs will not be allowed at any cost and they will be given a befitting reply".
He said, "We want to see laptops, international medals and appointment letters in the hands of our youth. They cannot be treated as raw material for factories set up in the name of religion. It is the age of learning and progress and we have to move with time."
Mann said it was easy to give sermons of taking up weapons to the sons of other families, but such preachers run away when they are faced with the harsh reality. Emphasising that the sole motive of such leaders was to disturb the hard earned peace of the state through their venomous ideas, he pointed out that they were highly mistaken if they thought that they could divide people on communal lines because the peace-loving Punjabis would thwart any such attempt.
Dwelling on the need to educate the coming generations to make them self-reliant, the CM said, "I want to assure the 3 crore people of the state that the state will help you in your progress." Mann added that AAP knows how to form the government and also to run the state. "I want to assure Punjabis that they should retain their faith as it gives me immense encouragement," he said.