Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday appealed to all political parties to rise above petty considerations and come on one platform to fight unitedly against the “treacherous” Agriculture Bills that would destroy the farmers of Punjab.
Asserting his commitment to protect the rights of the farmers at all costs, the Chief Minister said that he was ready to lead the political fight against the unconstitutional anti-farmer Bills with all his might. “I will do what it takes to save my farmers and my State from these dangerous new laws, whose implementation will cripple the farming sector and also destroy Punjab’s lifeline of Agriculture,” he added.
“The Congress has always stood with the farmers and will fight with them, shoulder to shoulder, to scuttle the Centre’s plans to ruin not just their own families and the labourers, who toil on the fields day and night to feed the nation, but the entire state of Punjab,” said the Chief Minister.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Union Government has stooped to a new low by bringing these Bills, and that too in a totally undemocratic and unparliamentary manner, said Capt Amarinder, adding that his Government, supported by the Punjab Congress, will oppose the legislations tooth and nail in the interest of not just the farmers and the State but the entire country.
Lambasting the Akalis for trying to change the narrative through their concerted and deliberate efforts to transform the ‘Punjab V/s Centre’ fight into a local political clash for their vested interests, the Chief Minister said that they have changed the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) history, reducing it from a political force into the BJP’s puppet.
Capt Amarinder dismissed SAD leader Harsimat Kaur Badal’s resignation from the Union Cabinet as a mockery of the Akali history of sacrifices, before the Badals hijacked the party and converted it into their personal fiefdom for their own gains.
“Is giving up a berth in the Union Cabinet a sacrifice? The Badals clearly do not know the meaning of sacrifice,” he quipped, ridiculing SAD president Sukhbir Badal’s latest statement that Akali Dal can make any sacrifice for farmers. What are you still doing in the anti-farmer NDA government at the Centre, he asked the Akali leader.
Sukhbir’s assertion that SAD will not let any corporate enter Punjab if the people make an Akali Dal Government in the State clearly showed that it was all about power, and the entire drama was being enacted by their party to get into the saddle, said the Chief Minister.
Terming SAD’s purported U-turn on the Bills as a desperate step taken under political compulsion, when faced with the threat of total eradication from Punjab’s political arena, he pointed out that neither Sukhbir nor his wife Harsimrat even once opposed the Farm Ordinances at any point till they were presented in the Lok Sabha.
“In fact, the duo continued to actively defend the Ordinances as being supportive of the farmers,” said Capt Amarinder, pointing to Sukhbir’s stand at the all-party meeting and his decision to stay away from the State Assembly session at which the resolution opposing the Bills was passed.
All their claims now of being with the farmers in this fight against the Bills are a complete farce, which even the agitating farmers are taking with a pinch of salt, the Chief Minister said.
MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER, ADHERE TO COVID NORMS DURING BHARAT BANDH: CAPT APPEALS TO FARMERS
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday appealed to the farmers to strictly maintain law and order, and adhere to all COVID safety protocols, during Friday’s bandh against the Agriculture Bills.
“While the State Government is fully with the farmers in their fight against the Bills, and no FIRs will be registered for violation of Section 144, there should be no disturbance of the law and order during the bandh,” the Chief Minister said.
He appealed to the farmers to ensure that the citizens of Punjab are not put to any inconvenience during the protest bandh, especially given the COVID crisis in the State.
The Chief Minister also urged the farmers, and other organizations supporting the bandh, to maintain social distancing and wear masks at all times. The State was already in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 cases, and any violation of precautionary norms could lead to the situation spiraling out of control, he warned.
He exhorted the farmers to take full care that the lives and property of the people of Punjab are not, in any way, endangered due to their agitation.
