Farmers Movement Archive

SAD-BJP leaders protest over govt policies, submit memo

Amritsar, June 18Despite the social distancing norm mandatory to curb the spread of Covid-19, leaders of the SAD-BJP combine on Thursday assembled at the Deputy Commissioner’s office to stage a protest and submit a memorandum against the alleged ill-conceived policies of the state government.Deputy Commissioner Shivdular Singh got furious over the crowd of leaders that entered his office. Later, he came out and accepted the memorandum only after a few leaders went ahead to hand it over to him. However, the leaders also expressed grief over the death of Army personnel during the Indo-China face-off in eastern Ladakh border before addressing mediapersons.BJP leader and former minister Anil Joshi and some other leaders chose to stay away from the crowd. When asked, Joshi admitted that social distancing should have been maintained and there was no need of gathering such a huge rush of party workers. “That’s why, I preferred to stay away. Only a handful of prominent leaders should have come to hold the protest and the rush could have been avoided,” he said.Nonetheless, Rajya Sabha MP Shwait Malik said it was the SAD-BJP’s joint campaign to protest the state government for its anti-people policies. From the SAD’s side, former MLAs Veer Singh Lopoke and Gulzar Singh Ranike along with their supporters were present in a large number.“The blue card initiated by the SAD-BJP regime was discontinued by the Congress government due to political reasons. But, this has put the underprivileged families at the receiving end. The blue card holders were eligible to get ration and essential items at subsidised rates. I am grateful to the high court which had directed the state government to resume those cards and distribute ration and relief material to needy persons. Also, the agrarian crisis was the outcome of the state government’s wrong policies,” he said.Joshi said land, sand and liquor mafias had prospered under Congress rule in the state. “I demand a CBI probe into illegal liquor smuggling which was going on without any fear during the lockdown period. Similarly, the spurious seed scam ought to be probed. Only 1 per cent of the Centre’s relief could reach the needy in the state whereas the other relief material was siphoned off. The power bills should be waived for at least three months to give relief to the industrialists.”Tarn Taran leaders demand probe in ‘scams’A joint delegation of the SAD-BJP organised a protest at the District Administrative Complex here on Thursday and submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Kulwant Singh to be further submitted to the Governor. It was against the state government. Virsa Singh Valtoha, former MLA, district president of SAD, and Sarabjit Kaur, district president of the BJP-led delegation. Former SAD MLA Harmeet Singh Sandhu was among those who were present on the occasion. Virsa Singh Valtoha said the parties demanded a high-level probe into alleged scams in the fake seed, sand, transport, wine and others. The parties, too, demanded the re-induction of the names of beneficiaries whose names had been deleted from the lists of the blue cards who were given wheat and pulses by the Union Government.

The Tribune

2020-06-19