Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday alleged that the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were playing politics over death and were “praying for destruction” of farmers of the state for their narrow motives.
Badal asked the Congress and AAP to put a brake on their “vulture mentality against Punjab farmers and stop praying for death and destruction so that the parties could get an opportunity to exploit it”.
“Please stop playing politics of death in Punjab,” said the five-time Chief Minister.
Badal claimed that the issuance of Cash Credit limit (CCl) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to facilitate payment to farmers for the procurement of wheat was “a strong vindication” of the Punjab government’s stand that not a single grain of wheat was missing from stocks.
He asked them to stop “mourning” the release of CCl for payment to the farmers for their wheat procured by Government agencies.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had on Wednesday slammed Congress leader Sunil Jakhar for claiming that wheat had “disappeared” from godowns in the State.
The ruling party said that if the charges were true, the RBI would not have issued an authorisation of CCl of `17,523 crore towards first instalment for the procurement of 90 lakh tonnes of wheat.
lashing out at the Congress and AAP, Badal alleged, “These parties are so desperate for power in Punjab that to show the Government in poor light, they went to the extent of organising ‘havans’ to pray for non-clearance of money to farmers.”
“As a rural Punjabi and farmer, I know with what eagerness every member of a farmer’s family, from children to elderly parents, waits for the harvest season and how everything in the family depends on good crop and timely payment. I could hardly sleep all these days, till the CCl was cleared. It was such a huge relief for every farmer and for me personally when it was finally done,” said Badal.
“The Congress and AAP are celebrating the farmers' woes over confusion about release of money for payment for the wheat procured,” he said, adding that when the news of CCl clearance came, “the faces of leaders of Congress and AAP fell. Their celebration of the farmers’ anxiety quickly turned into mourning”.
He claimed that “every farmer in the State was upset and angry with the Congress and AAP for playing politics on the issue of life and death for the peasantry.”
Reacting to Jakhar’s comment, Badal said: “I expected at least you, being a farmer, would distance yourself from this vulture-mentality.”