Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday assured his Punjab counterpart Parkash Singh Badal that no Punjabi or Sikh farmer from Kutch region would be displaced from Gujarat at any cost.
The assurance was given by Modi to Badal, who was in Gujarat to participate in the inaugural session of the three-day ‘Vibrant Gujarat Global Agriculture Summit — 2013’, in a specially convened Panchayat meeting of Punjabi farmers from Kutch region.
Modi said that in 1973, Congress-led Gujarat Government had issued a circular that if any agriculturist from outside would purchase agricultural land in that State, he would be declared a non-agriculturist. He added, the crisis faced by Punjabi farmers was totally based on this circular issued by the Congress Government.
However, he bemoaned that some people were trying to malign Gujarat Government’s image by spreading canards that his Government has adopted a discriminatory attitude towards the Sikh farmers from Punjab tilling land in Kutch.
Assuring Badal, Modi said that though the issue was sub-judice, his Government was committed to safeguard the interests of Sikh farmers in Kutch region. “There is no question of their eviction from Gujarat,” he made it clear.
lauding the role played by Punjabis in Gujarat’s socio-economic development, Modi said that nearly 50,000 Sikhs had lived peacefully in Gujarat since centuries thereby intermingling with other communities and playing a proactive role in state’s development.
He cautioned that any officer of Gujarat Government compelling the farmers to leave the state should understand clearly that in such case, he would have to leave Gujarat.
Modi apprised the Chief Minister that out of 784 families settled in Kutch, 245 belonged to Punjab, 88 from Gujarat and 451 from other states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Concluding, he reiterated his stand that his Government would “protect their rights to live peacefully and earn their livelihood with dignity”.