Will reject Central farm acts after SAD forms government in Punjab: Sukhbir Singh Badal
- October 23, 2020
- Updated: 01:35 am
DW BUREAU / chandigarh
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said his party will not allow implementation of the Centre's farm laws when it comes to power in Punjab. Badal, who presided over a core committee meeting here, also said that it was the duty of the government to ensure that farmers' produce was procured at the minimum support price for all 22 crops. "We have been demanding that the assured marketing at MSP must not only continue but it should also be expanded to cover all the 22 listed crops. When SAD forms a government in the state, we will ensure that this demand is converted into an achievement," he said.
"When the SAD forms government in the state, we will totally reject and block the implementation of (PM Narendra) Modi's anti-farmer acts in Punjab, declare the entire state a principal market area and repeal the APMC Act 2017 enacted by (Chief Minister) Amarinder Singh," Badal said here. He said the members of opposition were shocked to see how the chief minister had allegedly defrauded Punjab by "betraying" the unanimous resolution passed by the assembly. "This resolution mentioned that it outrightly rejected the Centre's acts and committed the state government to declaring Punjab a principal market area. But bills which were subsequently brought by the Amarinder government carried none of these provisions. He is guilty of misleading and betraying the trust of the House," Badal alleged in a statement. He further claimed that farmers' bodies have rejected the bills brought by the Punjab government in the assembly to negate the central farm laws. The Punjab Assembly on Tuesday had adopted a resolution rejecting the Centre's new farm laws and passed four bills, it said, will counter the contentious legislation enacted by Parliament.
Meanwhile, many Punjab BJP leaders, including party's state chief Ashwani Sharma and former Union minister Vijay Sampla, were detained in Jalandhar after they began their 'Dalit Insaf Yatra' on Thursday. Police said the BJP leaders did not have permission for taking out the 'yatra'. The Punjab unit of the BJP had planned to take out a 'yatra' in protest against the alleged atrocities on the scheduled caste community and post-matric SC scholarship scam in the state. The rally was to start from Jalandhar and end at the residence of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in Chandigarh.
As the BJP leaders and workers started their 'yatra' in their vehicles at Surya enclave in Jalandhar, police personnel stopped them and detained many senior state party leaders. Party general secretary Jeevan Gupta and former minister Manoranjan Kalia were among the people who were detained by police. They were brought in a bus to Circuit House in Jalandhar. Later, they were released. Talking to reporters, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Som Parkash said the protest rally was organised against the alleged multi-crore post-matric Scheduled Caste scholarship scam and "atrocities" on Dalits. "We wanted to wake up the state government from its slumber on these issues through this rally," Parkash said. Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma said the party will continue to fight till the SC community gets justice. Former Union minister Vijay Sampla said that stopping the BJP's protest rally was "unconstitutional." BJP leaders had been demanding a CBI probe into the alleged scholarship scam in which the name of minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot had figured. After the allegations of Rs 64 crore misappropriation in the SC scholarship scheme had surfaced, the chief minister had directed the chief secretary to conduct a thorough enquiry. The chief secretary's report, based on the findings of the three-member panel of IAS officers led by Food Secretary KAP Sinha, had exonerated Dharamsot.
(editor@dailyworld.in)