Farmers Movement Archive

‘Bhagat can throw bombs in assembly’

Ludhiana: Congress MP from Ludhiana, Ravneet Singh Bittu on Wednesday courted controversy while speaking in the Lok Sabha on the opposition to the three central farm laws in Punjab. “Bhagat Singh fansi char sakda desh lai, te ess assembly ch bomb vi sutt sakda ohi Bhagat Singh. Es karke jaag jaayo, na saade naal sharata karo, Punjab nal te Punjab de kisan naal (if Bhagat Singh can sacrifice his life the country, then same Bhagat Singh can even hurl a bomb in this assembly. So be warned, don’t play games with us, neither with Punjab not Punjab’s farmers),” he said. Earlier, Bittu was speaking against changes in the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act and direct bank transfer scheme for farmers in the Parliament. During his address, he said, “Punjab’s biggest festival, Baisakhi, is approaching fast, but the Centre does not want us to celebrate it because 15 lakh farmers and their families are looking desperately towards it (Union government) because 40 years’ old APMC Act of our state has been ordered to be changed. How can it be that a law, based on which the relations of our farmers and arhtiyas (commission agents) have remained cordial for 40 years, is changed? How can the farmers adapt to changes like computerisation of records and feeding of data when procurement season in Punjab is starting next week?” Bittu, who is Congress’s leader in the Lok Sabha, claimed that the new changes had been introduced by the Centre with the aim of creating a rift between farmers and commission agents, and also taking revenge from Punjab farmers for not accepting the three agro-market laws. He said the Centre’s adamant attitude on the issue of farm laws was taking lives of Punjabis who gave so many sacrifices for the nation. In the day, Bittu also launched an attack against the Centre for raising rates of petrol, diesel and LPG, and criticised finance minister for not addressing this concern.

The Times of India

2021-03-25

Chandigarh