The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday asked senior farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal to keep the Kisan Andolan above politics and requested him to take concrete action against hooligans who had targeted Akali workers proceeding to Delhi to participate in the party’s march to parliament instead of attacking the SAD.
Addressing a press conference here, senior SAD leader Prem Singh Chandumajra, Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Daljit Singh Cheema said it was most unfortunate that even after admitting that some wrong elements wanted to defame the Kisan Sangharsh, the Kisan leader had neither secured an unconditional apology from those guilty of hooliganism nor subjected them to the process of law.
Chandumajra and Grewal also took objection to Rajewal’s statement that only SAD legislators and MPs should have gone to protest in Delhi. “We fail to understand what objection he has to a protest by thousands of people. Earlier also thousands of farmers marched to parliament which sent out a message of unity and strength attracting worldwide attention”.
Cheema rebutted the assertion of Rajewal that the SAD was defaming the Kisan Andolan by releasing videos. “In fact the videos showing Akali leaders and even women being abused, intimidated and even robbed besides the damage done to their vehicles have been posted by the perpetrators and not the victims”. He also asked if Rajewal had taken notice of this criminal activity and why he did not inform the people of the action by him and the Kisan unions in the case. Cheeema also said it was unfortunate that Rajewal had chosen to politicize the issue and also paint the SAD, which had resigned from the union ministry and even quit the NDA, in poor light. “He has however chosen to remain silent on the Congress party’s role in framing of the ordinances as well as amendments done in the APMC Act by the Congress government in 2017.