Days after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal led the House to pass a resolution demanding repeal of the Centre’s three agricultural laws, Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) national convener on Sunday asked the party leaders of Punjab to leave aside the party’s flag and agenda and support the ongoing farmers’ movement at all levels.
The instructions to the party leaders from Punjab, including the legislators, were issued by Kejriwal during a marathon meeting that lasted for about three hours at the national capital, to chalk out the party’s strategy on AAP’s Mission-2022.
AAP’s lone MP and Punjab unit president Bhagwant Mann also attended the meeting, along with Punjab party affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh and co-in-charge Raghav Chadha.
Already, Kejriwal has announced to provide free electricity to Punjabis if his party is voted to power. After the power issue, Kejriwal is focussing on the farmers’ issue as the farming community constitutes a major chunk of voters in Punjab.
It has been learnt that during the meeting, Kejriwal sought detailed suggestions for strengthening the farmers’ movement. “Today the ‘annadatas’ of the country are forced to fight for their lands and existence, but the Narendra Modi-led Central Government is not giving up its stubborn stance which is reprehensible,” said Kejriwal, as per the party’s official statement.
Kejriwal reiterated that the Union Government should immediately repeal the anti-agriculture black laws and should not introduce the Electricity Amendment Bill, 2021, in the Parliament.
During the meeting, the support given by the Delhi Government to the farmers’ movement despite the pressure from the Union Government and the continuous voice raised by Bhagwant Mann in favour of the farmers inside and outside Parliament was highly appreciated, stated the press statement.
The statement said that Kejriwal had a lengthy discussion with Punjab MLAs on what else the party could contribute to the prosperity of Punjab and for strengthening the nationwide farmers’ movement.
In the meeting, Kejriwal advised the party MLAs and the entire leadership to focus on drawing a positive line to liberate Punjab from the mafia rule forever in 2022 Punjab Assembly elections.
They were advised to go door-to-door to tell the people what development-oriented policies AAP can use to get Punjab and the people out of the crisis and how to make Punjab a prosperous state again. Also, Kejriwal gave many examples of Delhi's development model to the Punjab leadership.
Kejriwal said that every child of Punjab was well aware of the mafia rule of the Badals-BJP and the Congress. The people were eager to oust these parties, and therefore, they should be connected and made aware of the constructive programs of the Aam Aadmi Party.
During the meeting, Kejriwal sought information from all the MLAs about the booth level of their constituencies. Meanwhile, Mann elaborated on the political, economic and social situation in Punjab.