Farmers Movement Archive

Badal seeks package for state on eve of PM Modi’s Punjab visit

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce an economic, political, agricultural and territorial package for Punjab on the eve of his rally in Ferozepur. Also read: PM Narendra Modi to lay stone of PGI satellite centre at Ferozepur on Jan 5Modi will be visiting the border district of poll-bound Punjab on Wednesday to lay the foundation stones of projects worth ₹ 42,750 crore, including the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway, four-laning of the Amritsar-Una highway, new rail line connecting Mukerian and Talwara towns, satellite centre of Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research at Ferozepur and medical colleges in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. The Prime Minister is visiting Punjab after two years. In November 2019, he had toured the state to open the Kartarpur Corridor on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. “A prime ministerial package will lend credence and respectability to your (Modi’s) visit. As PM, you will earn goodwill and my personal gratitude if before coming here you announce a package to meet the demands of the Punjabis,” Badal said in a press statement. He also drew the PM’s attention towards the Sikh families awaiting justice for the massacre of 1984. Modi’s rally, being held almost two months after the revocation of the farm laws, is being seen as an opportunity for the BJP to show its strength. His visit ahead of the assembly elections is crucial for the saffron party, particularly when old ally Badal’s Shiromani Akali Dal has snapped ties and the BJP has decided to contest in alliance with the Akali splinter group led by Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and the Punjab Lok Congress, floated by former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh after he was unceremoniously removed from the CM’s post by the Congress high command. The SAD has tied up with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party for the elections. Badal demanded an agricultural package to pull Punjab farmers out of a crisis into which they have sunk due to indebtedness. “It would be a great gesture if you announce an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into the conspiracy behind the series of sacrilege incidents against the Sikh faith,” Badal said. He demanded the transfer of Chandigarh and other Punjabi-speaking areas to Punjab and the resolution of the river waters issue as per the riparian principle. Drawing Modi’s attention towards the loss of lives during the farm agitation, Badal sought help for their families.

Hindustan Times

04-01-2022

Chandigarh