Chandigarh, July 8, 2019 (Yes Punjab News)
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state president and Member of Parliament (MP), Bhagwant Mann, has severely criticized the Narendra Modi government for keeping the state of Punjab out of the national level committee constituted to promote agriculture and doubling agriculture income of farmers in the country in the next three years, stating that the government had done injustice to the state.
He said the government had betrayed the interests of the state, which had been feeding the country for the last 60 years despite battling local issues.
In a statement issued from party office in Chandigarh on Monday, Mann demanded the government should review its decision forthwith and give due representation to the agrarian state Punjab by including it the national-level committee on agriculture.
Coming heavily on union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Mann asked as to where had been union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal when such crucial decisions were taken by the government.
“I ask the Badals as to why SAD (Badal) was in alliance with the saffron party at the centre if they cannot protect the interests of Punjab. Was this an arrangement to enjoy power at the cost of the people of Punjab. Isn’t it the responsibility of Harsimrat Kaur Badal as minister to safeguard the interests of the people of Bathinda and Punjab?” Mann questioned.
The AAP leader called upon all Members of Parliament and the Rajya Sabha from Punjab to rise above the petty party considerations and be one on the issue so that pressure could be build up to force the Modi government to include Punjab in the National Committee on agriculture constituted for the purpose. This was, he said, was imperative as the state was already wrestling with a string of issues, including water and agriculture, et al and that the anti-state policies of the successive government had shoved the state in serious crisis.
Mann accused the Modi government for depriving the state of its rightful claim on being member of the core committee, adding that it would have been better had that government led by Modi, instead of tipping Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, named Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh as the Chairmanship of the said committee.
said it had rather would have included Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal in the core committee, stating that neither wheat-paddy crop diversification was possible nor could achieve the target of doubling the farmers’ income by 2022 without the presence of food processing units in the area.
Mann said that by not including Punjab state in the high-powered committee on agriculture, the Modi government had deprived the state of its basic constitutional rights since the issue of agriculture was an issue related to the states, saying that the government, which had been grossly violated, he added.
Bhagwant Mann demanded sought immediate intervention of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in the matter to undo the wrong done to the state, stating that if the union government failed to take an urgent call on the issue, AAP would be forced to raise the in the Parliament to reach out to the people across the country to the injustice done to the state.
