In what could prove to be a contentious issue in Centre-state relations, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday demanded that the Union Government must give “royalty on water and food grains” to the State on the pattern of the same given to other States for supplying coal and other minerals in the country.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference to mark the Shaheedi Jor Mela here, the Chief Minister said that the hard working and resilient farmers of the State had over exploited the only available natural resources of the State in terms of water and fertility of the soil to make the country self reliant in food production. However, he bemoaned that this immense contribution of the State’s farmers’ has never been recognised by the country. Badal said that it was the high time that the nation must repay the peasantry of the State by giving them royalty on water and food grains supplied to the country.
Earlier addressing a huge gathering during the conference, the Chief Minister said that the single point agenda of the Shiromani Akali Dal was to make Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of the country, so that a new era of unprecedented development could be ushered in the State. “All of you must take inspiration from the voters of Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to teach the corrupt and inefficient Congress party a lesson by routing them out of power from Centre,” he added.
Coming down heavily on the Congress, the Chief Minister said that due to the weakness of the Congress led UPA Government at the Centre the external and internal sovereignty of the country was in peril. Training his guns against the Congress, the Chief Minister said that successive Congress Governments at the centre have meted out step motherly treatment with the Punjab by denying it of Punjabi speaking areas, legitimate share in river waters and even its capital. He said the Congress has inflicted a deep wound on Sikh psyché by irrelevantly meddling in their social, political, economic and even religious matters.
He said that denial of OBC status to the Jat Sikhs of the State has once again exposed the anti Punjab stance of the Congress party. Paying floral tributes to Mata Gujar Kaur and younger Sahibzadas Baba Jorawar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh, the Chief Minister said that the supreme sacrifice made by them at a tender age hardly has any parallel. Top Akali Dal and BJP leaders from the state were present in the function.