Farmers Movement Archive

Oppn’s charge baseless, malicious: CM Punjab

Rejecting as baseless and malicious all allegations of the Opposition, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said there was no question of deputing police officers to negotiate with farmers protesting at the Delhi border.Pointing out that he had made it categorically clear that the ball was in the Centre’s court, with the Punjab Government having no role to play in the negotiations with farmers, the Chief Minister ridiculed the charges made by Akalis and AAP leaders on the basis of unfounded reports in a small section of the media.With farmer protests going on in the state long before the agitation started at the Delhi border, he said he had asked police officers to give him regular intelligence reports and updates on the situation not just from the national capital but also across Punjab. Trashing the twisted interpretation to the presence of a few Punjab Police personnel at the farmers’ protest site, he said it was the job of the state police to keep tabs on the evolving situation, and it was his job, as both Chief Minister and Home Minister, to remain updated about all developments.Captain Amarinder said both SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, as well as their party colleagues, were resorting to lies and deceit in their desperation to cover up their own failures in the entire crisis triggered by the farm laws.On Sukhbir’s claim that the resolutions passed in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha against the three farm Bills had not been sent to the Governor, he said the SAD president had clearly lost it. “Or perhaps he is suffering from serious amnesia since his party colleagues, including his own brother-in-law Bikram Majithia, had accompanied me to the Governor’s House for submitting the resolution and the three State Amendment Bills,” said the CM.Unlike the Akalis and AAP, which had made drastic U-turns, the Punjab Congress and his government had a very clear and consistent stand on the central farm laws, said the Chief Minister, adding that his government had supported the farmers’ stance on the issue from the outset and continued to do so.“The farmers and the people of Punjab are not going to be taken in by your fabrications and drama,” he said, warning Sukhbir and Kejriwal to stop indulging in false propaganda to push their political agenda.

The Tribune

2021-01-09

Chandigarh