Farmers Movement Archive

Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh’s mandi bill exposes Punjab govt: Sukhbir Singh Badal

CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has said that the passage of a bill by the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh for making the entire state a single mandi has exposed the alleged fraud played on farmers by Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh. While addressing a virtual press conference, Sukhbir said even as Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan governments had passed similar laws to protect their farmers, Capt Amarinder had left farmers at the Centre’s mercy. “The Congress government in Punjab has deliberately amended the central Acts under the trade subject in the concurrent list instead of bringing in legislation under the agricultural head on the state list as was done by the Chhattisgarh government,” said Sukhbir. He said SAD had mooted the proposal that a bill be passed to make the entire state a single mandi (principal marketing yard) to negate the implementation of the three agri laws in Punjab. Amarinder rejected the proposal saying it was not feasible but his Chhattisgarh counterpart did not feel so, said Sukhbir. He also congratulated the Kerala government for declaring a minimum support price (MSP) on fruits and vegetables saying this was much needed to give a boost to agriculture. “The state government should intercede in case the entirety of crops for which MSP had been declared were not purchased by central agencies,” said Sukhbir. But, he said, it seemed too much to ask this from the Congress government in Punjab which had “back-stabbed the farming community” by even refusing to annual the central agriculture laws. Reacting to BJP national president JP Nadda’s statement that the SAD had parted ways with them under pressure from the Congress, Sukhbir said such statements did not behove Nadda’s stature. The SAD president said that the SAD was a 100-year-old party which had constantly fought against the Congress’s excesses since decades. The SAD had parted ways with BJP when the latter refused to repeal the central farm bills, he added.

The Times of India

2020-10-30

Chandigarh