Already on collision course with the Centre on the issue farm laws, followed by the President Ram Nath Kovind’s refusal to grant him audience over the matter, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday announced to lead a relay dharna of legislators at Delhi’s Rajghat from Wednesday to highlight State’s power crisis and shortage of essential supplies.
The crisis, triggered by the suspension of goods trains, aggravated further in Punjab, resulting in complete shut-down of all power plants and severe curtailment of agricultural and vegetable supplies, besides affecting the state’s industrial sector too amidst the corona pandemic.
The goods trains in the State have not been running since October 2 when protesting farmers launched their indefinite “rail roko” (train blockade) against the Central Government’s new agriculture laws.
Even as a majority of the protesting farmers unions had called off their agitation on October 23, a couple of organisations are still blocking some rail tracks in protest against the laws. At the same time, the ‘adamant’ Centre has made it clear that the goods trains services would not resume in the state until all the tracks are cleared and safety of the trains is ensured.
CAPT URGES ALL MLAs OF PUNJAB TO JOIN RAJGHAT DHARNA
As the President Kovind not giving time for a meeting and amidst the Centre’s “adamant refusal” to allow movement of goods trains, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday announced that he will lead a relay dharna of MLAs at Delhi’s Rajghat from Wednesday to highlight the state’s power crisis and critical essential supplies situation.
“I have decided to hold a symbolic relay dharna at Rajghat to bring the state’s grim situation to the Centre’s notice,” said the Chief Minister as the crisis triggered by the suspension of goods trains aggravated further in the State, resulting in complete shut-down of all power plants as well as curtailment of agricultural and vegetables supplies.
“Since Section 144 was in place in Delhi, MLAs will go from Punjab Bhawan to the ‘samadhi’ of the Father of the Nation in batches of four only,” he said, adding that he will lead the first batch at 10.30 am.
Capt Amarinder reiterated his appeal to MLAs of other Punjab parties to also join the dharnas in the interest of the State, which was facing a dire situation at present with the last of the private power plants also shutting down today.
The Chief Minister said that the situation on the ground was grim as the state had run out of coal, urea/DAP and other essential supplies due to the decision of the Railways not to ply goods trains even after the farmers eased their blockade to allow such movement.
Further, the continued and inexplicable suspension of the goods trains by the Railways was also having serious consequences for other states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh, he pointed out, reiterating his warning of the Armed Forces becoming sitting ducks for the enemies if they do not get their essential supplies before snow sets in.
Soon after Punjab Vidhan Sabha session, in which all parties had unanimously resolved to seek time from the President for November 4 or any other suitable date to seek his intervention on the Farm Bills issue, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) had, on October 21, sent a letter to Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking a meeting, said the spokesperson.
Spokesperson said that a reminder was subsequently sent on October 29, in response to which the CMO received a DO letter a day before “rejecting the request for a meeting on grounds of the State Amendment Bills still pending with the Governor for consideration”.
Subsequently, the CMO sent another letter on Monday itself, stating that the Chief Minister and other MLAs needed time to bring to the President’s notice the situation on the ground and to seek his intervention for resolution of the issues that have cropped up, said the spokesperson adding that the President’s Office responded saying, “the request cannot be accepted at this juncture for reasons cited earlier”.
Expressing concern over the development, the Chief Minister said that as far as the State Amendment Bills, introduced under Article 254 (ii) were concerned, the Governor’s role was limited to forwarding the same to the President in accordance with the Constitutional provisions. In any case, as the letter from his office had made it clear, that was not the only issue on which the state needed the President’s intervention, he added.
The Chief Minister also took serious note of the refusal of two Central Ministers to meet Congress MPs from Punjab to discuss grave issues of importance to the State. The Ministers had sought time from Railways and Finance Ministers to discuss suspension of goods trains and non-payment of GST dues.
“The Central Government’s step-motherly treatment towards Punjab is pushing it into a deep crisis,” said Capt Amarinder, terming the recent developments as against India’s constitutionally-mandated federal character.
The situation, if not checked, could snowball into a major catastrophe and spell doom for the nation, whose foundations were built on the ethos of democratic federalism, he warned.
PLEA TO HEAD TO RAJGHAT INSTEAD OF MEETING PM POLITICAL JUGGLERY, SAYS AAP’S MANN
Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Punjab unit president Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday termed Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh as a great dramatist, saying that he was, instead of going to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issues of black laws, heading to Rajghat for enacting another drama in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue to mislead the people of Punjab, especially the farmers. “It is a well thought-out ploy to derail the peasant struggle,” he said.
Mann said, “The million-dollar question here is why Capt Amarinder Singh is seeking an audience with the President of the country over the contentious laws, while all know that the decision to withdraw the black laws and guarantee of procurement of all crops at the MSP, including wheat and paddy, is in the hands of the Prime Minister. “He is simply trying to fool the people by resorting to such cheap gimmicks hoodwink the farmers with ulterior motive of misleading them,” he said.
Mann said that if the Punjab Assembly had passed its own laws to ensure guarantee over government procurement at the MSPs instead of going the whole hog to amending the black farm law pushed by the Modi Government at the Centre, there would have been no constitutional impediment to negating the central marketing laws.
“Instead of weakening the peasant struggle and misleading them by lying, the Chief Minister should meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the guarantee on government procurement at MSP by reversing the black laws enacted by the Union Government,” he said adding that if the Congress Government could not do so, Capt Amarinder should step down as chief minister.
SAD ASKS CM TO MEET RAILWAY MINISTER, PM INSTEAD OF HOLDING DHARNAS
Shiromani Akai Dal (SAD) on Tuesday said that the Congress Government in Punjab and the BJP-led Central Government were playing a fixed match to defame farmer organizations and Punjabis for agitating against the central farm laws.
Reacting to the Congress party’s announcement that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and party legislators would hold a relay protest at Rajghat, former Minister Daljit Singh Cheema said that this was nothing but a gimmick.
“Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is deliberately not approaching the Centre. He has earlier also written a letter to BJP president JP Nadda instead of approaching the Railways Minister or the Prime Minister. Even now, instead of holding talks with the Central Government and ensuring start of goods trains immediately, the Chief Minister announced that he would lead a delegation of legislators to meet the President,” he said.
Warning the Chief Minister that such tactics would lead to social unrest and devastate the economy of Punjab, Cheema said that the Chief Minister should meet relevant Ministers and the Prime Minister if needed and ensure all inbound trains to Punjab were restarted.
“Instead of passing Bills under the Agriculture head and making the entire State one Mandi as had been done by Chattisgarh, the Congress party in Punjab had sought to amend the central laws which were on the concurrent list and not under State jurisdiction. By doing so the Congress government has played into the hands of the Centre,” he said.