Farmers Movement Archive

Clarify stand on farm laws: Sukhbir Badal

CHANDIGARH: War of words between the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Amarinder Singh continued over farm laws with SAD president Sukhbir Badal asking the Punjab chief minister to clarify whether the state government had annulled the central agri-marketing laws and when the new Bills passed in the Vidhan Sabha would come into being. The SAD president also asked the chief minister to clarify to the farmers if he had guaranteed government purchase of all 24 crops falling under the MSP regime and gave the CM two weeks to respond. Badal asserted that response to these questions would make it clear whether the Bills passed in the Vidhan Sabha at Amarinder Singh’s instance would be a boon for farmers or prove to be the biggest fraud ever played on the unsuspecting farming community of the state. “Please give straight answers to these questions instead of resorting to cheap pot shots. We give you two weeks to give a definite answer to all these questions and in case you do not reply then it will be assumed that you have backstabbed farmers and their cause,” Sukhbir said. Accusing Captain Amarinder Singh of pushing Punjab into turmoil, the SAD president said instead of legislating on agriculture, which was a state subject, the Congress government had legislated on a trade issue that was on concurrent list. “The Bills are not only likely to be rejected by the Centre, but could harm the state even further as was done by the River Waters Termination Act passed under Amarinder Singh’s leadership in 2004 that strengthened Rajasthan and Haryana’s case”. He said in the case of the current Bills the Congress government had done nothing to counter the facilitation of big business in the state’s farming system.

The Times of India

2020-10-25

Chandigarh