CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab has accused Chief Minister Amarinder Singh that the ruling Congress, like the Badal family, was playing friendly match with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while the dictatorial attitude with which the BJP imposed anti-agriculture laws on farmers, Amarinder government and the Badals should have drawn a line against him from the day when the Agriculture Ordinances were being drafted.
In a joint statement issued from the party headquarters, senior party leaders and MLAs Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Principal Budh Ram, Meet Hayer, Rupinder Kaur Ruby and General Secretary Harchand Singh Burst said that had the Amarinder government and the Badal family taken a firm and clear stand in favour of Punjab and its farmers and stood against these bills from the outset, the Modi government would have definitely come to a 'back foot' instead of pushing so hard, but on the contrary Amarinder Singh and Manpreet Singh Badal gave go-ahead to the ordinances in the High Power Committee meetings and Punjab government continued filing cases against the leaders and workers of the farmers 'organizations including the protesting Aam Aadmi Party. Similarly, the entire Akali Dal (Badal) including the Badals' family continued their advocacy to these devastating bills as a boon till the last minute.
Such deceitful steps taken by Amarinder government and the Badals against the farmers' struggle not only boosted the morale of the Modi government but were also aimed to disrupt the peasant movement in Punjab which is still continuing despite all the drama and ostentation of the duo.
Badals' act of announcing a Chaka Jam program on September 25 parallel to that of the farmers' organizations and refrain from uttering anything harsh in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amarinder Singh's step of announcing advance procurement of paddy without taking farmers and farmers' organizations into confidence while Punjab government's deep slumber over cotton and maize being sold at half the price speaks volumes about their ill-intentions.
The AAP leaders said that the Aam Aadmi Party was not against the advance procurement of paddy but supported the long standing demand of starting government procurement from September 15 in view of the early harvest in the Majha area. At present, the 'courteousness ' shown by the central government in advance procurement clearly indicates its intentions to derails the united struggle of the farmers by engaging labours and farmers in mandis.
The AAP leaders said that in such a scenario, the Punjab government should have taken up the issue of advance procurement (September 26 instead of October 1) in the mandis after consultation with farmers and farmers associations. While the Union Government and its agent Badal family are trying to break and weaken the peasant struggle, every action of the Amarinder government I this regard has been suspicious and in favour of Modi.