Lashing out at SAD president for trying to hijack the farmers’ agitation to push his party’s agenda, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday challenged Sukhbir Badal’s moral right to question him or his government on the farm laws while asking him to first answer three key questions on the issue.
The Chief Minister said that Sukhbir should refrain from commenting on the “black” farm laws till he gives satisfactory answers to three vital questions, the answers to which every single farmer of Punjab wanted to know.
“Why did Harsimrat Kaur Badal not oppose the farm ordinances when they were first approved by the Union Cabinet, of which she was then a member? Why did Sukhbir not support the State Government at the all-party meeting I had convened to evolve a consensus against the blatantly anti-farmer legislations? And why did the Akalis boycott the Vidhan Sabha session in which the other parties (barring BJP) had voted in favour of the resolution on the agricultural laws?” asked Capt Amarinder.
Capt Amarinder said: “I have been asking these questions to Sukhbir and Harsimrat for the past several weeks but the Akali leaders have been persistently ignoring them. It is clear that the duo has no justification for their actions, which have brought the situation to such a pass, where the very survival of the farmers is at stake.”
Reacting to Sukhbir’s so-called request to the Prime Minister to talk to farmer organizations and to listen to the voice of the people, the Chief Minister asked why he did not remind the Prime Minister of his responsibility towards farmers all those years he was colluding with the BJP to ruin the farming community.
“And what about your own responsibility? Or are you admitting that you never had any sense of duty towards the people of Punjab, especially the farmers,” Capt Amarinder asked Sukhbir.
On Sukhbir’s talk about forming a national pro-farmer front with “like-minded parties”, the Chief Minister quipped that SAD had ostensibly already quit the coalition of ‘like-minded parties’, whose only common interest was to ruin agriculture and appease the corporate honchos who were controlling them.
The Chief Minister said that having lost their face and political standing completely among the farmers of Punjab, the Akalis were now grasping at straws to brazen their way out of their sins.
“These antics won’t work,” warned Capt Amarinder, adding that if Sukhbir had any shame left, he should plead guilty to his anti-farmer and anti-Punjab actions and try to make amends instead of wasting his time attacking the state government.
SUKHBIR STRONGLY URGES PM TO HOLD DIRECT TALKS WITH FARMER ORGANISATIONS
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday strongly urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the grievances of the farming community by holding direct talks with farmer organizations as well as all other stakeholders to come out with a solution which was acceptable to all.
“Farmer organizations have rightly rejected the Secretary level talks offered by the Agricultural Ministry as a bureaucrat cannot offer anything on the table and had called the farm leaders only to explain the Centre’s point of view,” said Sukhbir adding that the Prime Minister must understand that a lot of water has flown under the bridge.
“Farmers in Punjab and Haryana besides other places have taken to the path of agitation at grave personal risk to themselves during pandemic because they are convinced the three recently enacted agri laws will destroy their future generations. In such a situation, leaving aside any middlemen, the Prime Minister should intervene and hold direct talks with farmers as well as other stakeholders, including all political parties,” said Sukhbir.
He added that the interaction should be followed up by scrapping of the three agri laws and fresh legislation safeguarding the interests of farmers. “As far as the SAD is concerned, it stood for a written assurance on the continuation of Central Government procurement of food grains as per MSP (minimum support price) followed by legislation making this a statutory law. We also stand for constitutional guarantees banning trade in food grains below the MSP,” he said.
At the same time, he also announced that SAD would initiate formation of a national pro-farmer front by coordinating with other like-minded regional parties to take this demand to its logical conclusion. “I would personally take up the cause of the farmers in Delhi by meeting representatives of likeminded regional parties soon,” he said.
SAD chief said that he would stress with like-minded parties that the Agri Acts, in their present form, were aimed at safeguarding the interests of corporates and not farmers. “Farmers need guaranteed MSP. The new Agri Acts will leave farmers to the mercy of big corporations. Those with small landholdings cannot take their produce to far off places or store it for months. In such a situation, they will not have any bargaining power with private players,” he said.
Requesting the Prime Minister not to abrogate his duty towards farmers, Sukhbir said that the Prime Minister should listen to ‘jan ki baat’ which he had also reflected as the Chief Minister of Gujarat when he had recommended making MSP a statutory right as head of the consultative committee of Chief Ministers.
AAP STAGES DHARNA OUTSIDE PUNJAB ASSEMBLY DEMANDING SPECIAL SESSION
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs on Friday staged a dharna outside the Punjab Assembly, demanding that the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh should immediately convene an all-party meeting, in which representatives farmers’ organizations, farm experts and other stakeholders should be invited. The party said that the special Vidhan Sabha session be convened before October 15 so that the farmers, and other all sections could be saved from ruining.
AAP MLA and Deputy Leader of Opposition Sarabjit Kaur Manuke stated that Capt Amarinder has played a pivotal role in clearing the passage for three anti-farmers Agriculture Ordinances brought in by the Modi-led Government at the Centre, which is aimed at ruining the farming fraternity and their age-old, besides demolishing the federal structure of the country. She accused the CM of misleading the gullible people of Punjab, especially the farmers, by holding pseudo rallies, “but, he (Amarinder Singh) should bear in mind that they will no longer fall to his political maneuvers”.”AAP has been opposing the well thought-out design of the anti-people governments at the Centre and we would continue to oppose the anti-farmer laws till they are scrapped,” she said.