Chandigarh, July 8, 2019 (Yes Punjab News)
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today condemned the Congress government for unleashing political vendetta on a poor farmer – Budh Singh for taking financial assistance from Youth Akali Dal (YAD) volunteers after he was betrayed by the government which failed to waive off his loan as promised after anointing him as the poster boy of its waiver scheme.
In a statement here, the SAD president said it was shocking that Budh Singh was attacked by the son of a Block President of the Congress party. He said the assailants were so drunk with power that they did not even spare an Additional SHO who tried to come to the rescue of Budh Singh and injured him severely also.
“This proves that the assailants were doing the bidding of the senior Congress leadership of the area which wanted to strike out at Budh Singh for accepting Rs 3.86 lakh from the YAD under the leadership of SAD General Secretary (Youth Affairs) Bikram Singh Majithia.
The Congress leadership of Dera Baba Nanak was extremely frustrated after Budh Singh joined the SAD and now it has unleashed an attack on the farmer. This is not only inhuman but shows how debased the Congress party has become that it will now start attacking farmers who question its loan waiver scheme”.
Stating that such behavior was intolerable in a democracy, Mr Sukhbir Badal demanded a high level probe into the incident and immediate arrest of all the accused as well as their bosses. He said if this was not done the SAD would launch an agitation to ensure justice to Budh Singh.
Giving details of the case, the SAD president said Budh Singh had waited for two years to avail of the loan waiver scheme promised to him by then Pradesh Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh who visited his residence to announce the scheme on October 16, 2016. “Budh Singh was made the poster boy of the Congress party’s Karja Kurki Khatam, Fasal Ki Poori Rakam scheme and assured that his loan would be the first to be waived off”.
The SAD president said it was only after the farmer sold off his tractor to avoid recovery proceedings (kurki) and his plight was highlighted in the media that YAD volunteers got together and collected funds so that he could repay his loan.
“Now a frustrated Congress party has struck out at Budh Singh instead of addressing his plight as well as that of thousands of other farmers, many of whom have even committed suicide after the Congress government and its chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh went back on his promise of complete loan waiver”.
