Modi insulted Punjabi language, his aid too meagre to cover damage: Minister Harpal Cheema

Chandigarh, Sep 10 (PTI) Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi insulted the Punjabi language when he was asked to accord the flood-hit state a bigger relief in monetary aid.

Cheema also termed the Rs 1,600-crore aid announced by Modi for Punjab "miserably meagre." The prime minister, who conducted an aerial survey of the devastation caused by the worst deluge in the state since 1988, also announced an ex gratia sum of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the seriously injured.

Modi later held a review meeting in Gurdaspur.

Addressing the media here, Cheema claimed that Cabinet minister Hardeep Singh Mundian, who was part of the Gurdaspur meeting, had told Modi that Rs 1,600 crore was "meagre" and demanded Rs 20,000 crore as interim relief.

"Then the PM told him (Mundian) 'kya aapko Hindi samajh nahin aati. Aapko samajh nahin aata, ke Rs 1,600 crore de diya (Do you not understand Hindi? Do you not understand that Rs 1,600 crore has been given)," Cheema alleged.

"It means the PM insulted our mother language Punjabi, people of Punjab and Punjabiyat," he charged.

Cheema said Modi came to Punjab almost 30 days after the floods, and during his visit, did not bother to hold hands of the people who lost their family members, people whose crops and houses were damaged.

"He announced a meagre amount of Rs 1,600 crore. It is like 'Oont ke muh mein jeera'," Cheema said.

"Instead of meeting grieving families who lost loved ones, farmers whose crops were destroyed, and labourers whose homes were washed away, he only rubbed salt on their wounds," he added.

The finance minister alleged that during his day-long visit, the PM "ignored" Punjab's elected government and "preferred" to meet the "BJP people" in Gurdaspur.

"If the PM only wanted to meet his party workers," Cheema said, "he could have invited them to Delhi for a tea party instead of visiting Punjab and putting on this dramatic show." BJP leaders were portrayed as flood victims in the Gurdaspur meeting, he claimed.

Punjab is currently facing one of its worst flood disasters in decades. The death toll in devastating floods in Punjab stands at 52, while crops on 1.91 lakh hectares have been damaged. PTI CHS VN VN