A day after Punjab Government assured to bear legal expenses of the Sikh farmers in Gujarat facing evacuation in their ongoing case in the Supreme Court, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday issued directions to the Union law Minister to extend legal aid to the farmers.
The directions came after several Congress MPs from Punjab and Haryana approached him conveying fears of displacement of Sikh farmers from Kutch region and accusing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of playing “divisive” politics. Prime Minister assured the delegation that the farmers’ case would be contested by best lawyers in the Supreme Court. The case is scheduled to come up before the Apex Court on August 27.
Several farmers from Punjab and Haryana, who had settled in Gujarat, are facing evacuation and feared that they would be displaced from the State following a 2010 order freezing land of farmers from outside the State. Though the affected farmers got some relief from the High Court in 2012, Gujarat Government had moved the Supreme Court challenging the relief.
The delegation, comprising Punjab Congress chief and Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa, Union Minister Preneet Kaur, Rohtak MP Depender Singh Hooda, asked the Prime Minister to “intervene in the matter in the interest of the distressed farmers and in the larger interest of the unity and integrity of our nation”. The delegation also met All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi, who in turn assured party’s support to the farmers facing displacement.
SAD COMMITTED TO SAFEGUARD INTERESTS OF PUNJABI FARMERS IN GUJARAT
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday reiterated that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was committed to safeguard the interests of Punjabi farmers in Gujarat by waging political and legal battle from the forefront.
“Punjab Government would extend every possible help to these farmers for pursuing their case in the Apex Court,” he added. Badal also blamed the then Congress government in Gujarat for this crisis. “The decision to freeze agricultural lands of Punjabi farmers was totally based on a circular issued by the Congress government in 1973,” he added.
Deputy chief minister and SAD president Sukhbir Badal said, “Gujarat Chief Minister has assured Punjab counterpart that no farmer would be displaced. It’s a wrong propaganda done by some vested interests.”
He said that Badal had already spoken to Modi on the issue. “At present, the matter is subjudice…the State Government would fight the legal battle in the interests of Sikhs,” he added.
BJP FORMS COMMITTEE
Bharatiya Janta Party on Tuesday formed a four-member committee which would soon visit Gujarat to look into the issue of Sikh farmers who are fearing eviction from the State.
“We have formed a four-member committee which will visit Gujarat soon and try to find out solution to the problems of farmers who have shifted from Punjab and Haryana,” said party’s Kisan Morcha national president OP Dhankar.