Jalandhar, January 8, 2021 (Yes Punjab News)
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today said chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had become a puppet of the BJP led central government and was suppressing all voices who were speaking out against the three hated farm laws.
Addressing a press conference here, the SAD President said “it is clear that the union home ministry knows about the weaknesses of the chief minister and that it why the latter was taking orders directly from the ministry and registering attempt to murder cases against Punjabis protesting against BJP leaders. Similarly song writers and singers who have sung songs in praise of the farmer agitation are being hauled up for special punishment”.
Asserting that the chief minister was not fulfilling his duties towards Punjabis, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “you (Capt Amarinder) should have been in the forefront of the fight to secure the rights of the farmers of the State.
You should have led the agitation and even been ready to sacrifice all for it. Instead of doing this, you are relaxing in your farm house and playing a double game by giving lip sympathy to farmers even as you act as per the orders of the centre and even post police officials in Delhi to intimidate farmer organizations at the instance of the central government”.
Mr Badal also took on the chief minister for failing to take back the APMC Act which was amended by him in 2017 and which contained all the provisions of the three farm laws. He said presently the situation was such that even if the centre repealed the three laws they would still be applicable in Punjab as the Congress government had refused to take back the changes made in its APMC Act.
The SAD President also asked the chief minister to tell one development project he had initiated in the last four years. He said the last four years under Capt Amarinder Singh had been the worst for the State. He said not one major road or social welfare scheme had been initiated in the State. “The disadvantaged have in fact suffered. The shagun scheme and aata daal schemes are dysfunctional. Even the scholarship fee of scheduled caste students has been embezzled”.
Speaking about the problems of farmers of the Doaba region, Mr Badal said sugarcane growers were suffering because Rs 284 crore due to them, including payment for the last crushing season of 2019-20, had not been paid to farmers.
He said the Congress government had also not increased the sugarcane State Assured Price (SAP) for the last three years due to which farmers in the State were getting a price of Rs 310 per quintal only against Rs 350 per quintal being received by farmers of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Badal also spoke on how the SAD had contributed the most to secure the rights of farmers in Punjab. He said the Akalis were even responsible for the start of the MSP regime in 1967. He said former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had strengthened the Mandi system in the State besides creating irrigation facilities for farmers, augmenting tubewell connections and even providing free power facility to farmers.
Others present on the occasion included Bibi Jagir Kaur, Maheshinder Singh Grewal, Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Pawan Tinu and Sarabjit Singh Makkar.
