Punjab: Opposition flays crackdown; economy hit, says AAP
Cabinet minister Tarunpreet Singh Sondh questions highway blockades. “Their fight is against the central government, but the closure of Punjab’s borders and highways caused losses to the state’s economy,” he says.
Amid the crackdown against the protesting farmers, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday flayed the state government while the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the Opposition of shedding crocodile tears.
Former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal stated that it was for the first time that farmer leaders were called for talks by the state and the central governments and then lathi-charged and arrested. “The AAP government has also gone back on its commitment to engage with the farmers to find a resolution to their grievances. The SAD workers should stand in solidarity with the farmers,” he said.
“Kejriwal has taken over as the real CM of Punjab. It is under his orders that these atrocities have been inflicted on the farmers,” he said.
He said gangsters have taken over the state and the drug mafia has been given a free hand.
BJP’s Punjab president Sunil Jakhar termed it a “deep-rooted conspiracy of AAP to humiliate” farmers. “At the behest of Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab was held to ransom and allowed to bleed financially and economically for 400 days for a dharna which was never in our state’s longterm interests,” he said, adding that it was Bhagwant Mann who forced farmers to sit on dharna when it suited AAP during Lok Sabha elections but now the same CM is trying to take credit for vacating Shambhu and Khanauri to “garner votes ahead of the Ludhiana bypoll”.
Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa had on Wednesday condemned the Punjab Police and termed the detention of farmer leaders as a cowardly act. Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring had alleged that the AAP government in Punjab and the BJP government at the Centre were in collusion to betray the farmers.
AAP MPs Raj Kumar Chabbewal and Malvinder Singh Kang criticised the Congress, accusing it of shedding crocodile tears. “The Congress neglected farmers during its decades in power, failed to implement the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations or provide legal guarantee for MSP. Their failures have forced farmers into prolonged struggles,” they claimed. Chabbelwal, who is a former Congressman, also slammed the party for “not raising farmers’ issues meaningfully” in the last eight months, despite having a significant strength in Parliament.
Cabinet minister Tarunpreet Singh Sondh questioned the farmer unions’ strategy behind the highway blockades in the state. “Their fight is against the central government, but the closure of Punjab’s borders and highways caused significant losses to the state’s economy and disrupted the lives of citizens,” he said.
The minister appealed to the farmers and the stakeholders to conduct protests in ways that do not inconvenience the public.
Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that because of the closure of the two highways for more than a year, Punjab’s trade has been hit hard.
