DASUYA: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today demanded chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh implement the complete loan waiver promise made to farmers of the State, saying the chief minister had indebted farmers further by going back on his word.

Talking to newsmen here after paying his condolences to the family of father-son duo of Jagtar Singh and Kirpal Singh who committed suicide at Muhadipur village here after their loans were not waived off, the SAD President said the tragic incident had exposed the Capt Amarinder Singh government. “The incident proves that even loans of marginal farmers like Jagtar Singh who owned only one acre of land have not been waived off. This despite the fact that Capt Amarinder Singh promised on the holy Gutka Sahib that the Congress government would effect a complete loan waiver once it came to power in the State”.

Asserting that the SAD would take the Congress government to task and force it to implement the promises made to the farming community, Mr Sukhbir Badal said lakhs of farmers had become indebted further in the last four years of Congress rule. “Farmers stopped paying their loan installments hoping the Congress government would fulfill its promise. These farmers as well as marginal farmers like Jagtar and Kirpal did not get even an Rs one loan waiver. That is why the father-son duo has named Capt Amarinder Singh in their suicide note. The chief minister is directly responsible for these suicides as well as 1, 500 other farmer deaths due to suicide in the last four years”. He said it was tragic that an upright farmer like Jagtar, who had made a name in the community as Nambardar of the village for twenty years, also had to end his life in this manner.

The SAD President also asked the central government to listen to the voice of the farming community which was agitating against the three Agricultural laws since nearly three months now. He said the father-son duo had also mentioned in their suicide note that they were committing suicide also due to the agony caused to farmers due to the central government’s refusal to repeal the three black laws. He said Jagtar and Kirpal had mirrored the feelings of the farmers of the State and it was high time the centre listened to the protesting farmers and accepted all their demands including repeal of the three laws, assured government purchase on minimum support price (msp) and implementation of the Swaminathan report in letter and spirit.
Senior SAD leaders Balwinder Singh Bhundur, Bikram Singh Majithia and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema also accompanied the SAD President.