Farmers Movement Archive

Akalis sold Punjab’s interests by supporting anti-farmer ordinances: Amarinder

Chandigarh: Accusing the Akalis of “selling” Punjab’s interests by agreeing to the “anti-farm ordinances”, chief minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday asserted that he would take the fight to the Centre. Capt Amarinder said he would be writing soon to the Prime Minister for appointment for the all-party delegation which all Punjab parties, except the BJP, had unanimously decided upon. “No matter what Sukhbir Badal or BJP say, once these ordinances are passed, the Centre’s next step would be to end the MSP regime and dismantle the FCI,” warned Amarinder, pointing to the recommendations of the Shanta Kumar committee. “You can imagine what will happen to Punjab farmers if this becomes a reality,” he said, adding that the procurement process would come to an end and mandis would be finished. The Akalis were only interested in protecting their political interests, with Harsimrat Kaur Badal focused on safeguarding her position in the Union Cabinet, allaged Amarinder, adding that the Badals were appeasing BJP to save their alliance in Punjab at any cost. “They are just bothered about their political interests. Sukhbir wants his wife to stay in the Union cabinet while he remains the Pradhan here. They are thinking about themselves and not of Punjab,” he claimed, adding that history was witness to this. Underlining the need to save Punjab and protect its interests, Amarinder said the ordinances were “100% against Punjab and anti-farmers”, as agreed by all political parties, except BJP and the Akalis. All the farmers’ unions, who he had recently met, also wanted immediate scrapping of these ordinances, he added. Responding to questions during his Facebook Live edition of #AskCaptain, Amarinder said “the Akalis had earlier ruined the state with their Punjabi Suba movement” and were now hell bent on destroying the farming sector by supporting these ordinances, which were a “blatant attack on the country’s federal structure”. “History is witness to the fact that the Akalis divided Punjab and gave away bulk of the state’s resources to Himachal Pradesh and Haryana due to their sheer shortsighted focus on their petty political interests,” he addded. Had the state not been divided, its representation in Parliament would have been many times over and its writ would have worked in Delhi, with no question of its interests being ignored, said Amarinder, lamenting that with just 13 MPs, Punjab’s voice was going unheard, especially since other states were also now producing wheat and the central government felt it no longer needed Punjab to sustain its food security. “They (governments at the Centre) squeezed us and have now discarded us,” he said, urging the people of Punjab to extend their full support to the fight against the ordinances and not be misled by the Akalis and BJP.

The Times of India

2020-07-05

Chandigarh