Punjab Congress president and Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll nominee Sunil Jakhar on Tuesday lashed out at the Modi government for its anti-farmer policies. Addressing worker meetings here, he said, “The Goods and Service Tax (GST) broke the backbone of the state farmers.”
Jakhar said, “ The Badal government destroyed the lives of farmers and the Modi government aggravated the woes with its anti-farmer and anti-poor policies.” He also flayed Union finance minister Arun Jaitley for imposing GST even on wheat flour, terming the step as anti-poor.
The Modi government is only interested in promoting corporate interests, he said . The Congress government has always worked to safeguard the interests of the Punjab farmers.
He lauded the chief minister (CM) Amarinder Singh’s decision to waive off farm loans. Under the Akali Raj, farmers did not get the due price for their produce nor was there smooth procurement of wheat and paddy, he said.
Referring to the SYL issue, Jakhar said it was Captain Amarinder who brought the Punjab Termination of Water Agreements Act, 2004.
The PPCC president said, demonetisation derailed the country’s economy and no one gained from it. Over 200 lives were lost because of demonetisation and its impact will continue for three more years,” said Jakhar, adding that the Narendra Modi-Arun Jaitley duo was answerable to the people. Pointing out that Rs 16 lakh crore had come back into the banks though Rs 15 lakh crore was in circulation, Jakhar said that this implied that counterfeit currency had also been accepted.
He demanded to know the central government’s stand on the issue of black money and fake currency. Taunting Modi over his ‘56 inch ka seena’ remark, Jakhar said the BJP government had even failed to stop infiltration from across the border. Everyday our jawans are being martyred while a ‘jumlebaaz’ and ‘fenku’ is running the country, he said.
{{/usCountry}}He demanded to know the central government’s stand on the issue of black money and fake currency. Taunting Modi over his ‘56 inch ka seena’ remark, Jakhar said the BJP government had even failed to stop infiltration from across the border. Everyday our jawans are being martyred while a ‘jumlebaaz’ and ‘fenku’ is running the country, he said.
{{/usCountry}}He criticised the Modi government for the growing atrocities against the Dalit community, contrasting it with the welfare initiatives taken by the former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Asserting that the Capt Amarinder government has taken initiatives for the state development, Jakhar said that in the next four and half years, glorious days of the Punjab will be back. Jakhar called upon the people to vote the Congress to power in Gurdaspur and discard a candidate like BJP’s Sarwan Salaria.