Terming the issuance of lookoutnotices against farmer leaders as “absolutely wrong”, Punjab Chief MinisterCaptain Amarinder Singh on Thursday said treating the farmers as a flight riskwas not only illogical but condemnable.
“Where will they flee?” asked theChief Minister, pointing out that most of them were small farmers with smallland holdings and not big corporate raiders like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi,Lalit Modi and Mehul Coksi, who had fled over the past few years after lootingthe country of billions of rupees. “You failed to stop these bigwigs but arenow targetting these small farmers fighting for their survival,” said CaptainAmarinder, urging the Centre to immediately direct the Delhi Police to withdrawthe lookout notices.
The Chief Minister also questionedthe Delhi Police decision to name farmer leaders in the FIRs of the RepublicDay violence without any evidence against them. “How can you blame all thefarmer leaders for the mischief done by a breakaway group or the handiwork ofsome anti-social elements, who instigated the violence at the Red Fort andother parts of the national capital,” he asked.
Reiterating his demand that theDelhi Police should not use the violence as an excuse to harass farmer leadersin order to weaken the agitation of the farmers, the Chief Minister pointed outthat all the prominent leaders named in the FIRs had already distanced themselvesfor the lawlessness of January 26. Not a single one of them had reportedly beenfound so far to have made any inflammatory speeches or seen indulging in anyprovocative acts, he said. If the police have any evidence of the involvementof any of these leaders, they should make it public, the Chief Minister added.
Captain Amarinder urged the Centre to ensure afree and fair probe into the incidents of January 26 so that the real culpritscould be identified and stern action initiated against them. Victimisation offarmer leaders was neither justified nor honourable, he added.