Launchinga frontal attack against BJP leaders over their reprehensible statementsagainst the farmers, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Fridayasserted that the farmers and farm workers of Punjab are not anti-nationals butare the same patriotic and nationalistic people who gave their lives for the countryin Galwan valley last year to protect India’s integrity and sovereignty.
Callingfor an immediate end to attempts to defame the dynamic Punjabi farmers bybranding them miscreants or ultras, the Chief Minister said in the Vidhan Sabhathat “they have never done anything anti-national, they are not anti-national,and they will never do anything against the unity and integrity of thiscountry.”
“Theyare patriotic and nationalistic – while one son ploughs the fields in thevillage, the other brother is busy guarding the country’s borders. These arethe same people who gave their lives for the country, along with soldiers fromother States too, in Galwan last year protecting the sovereignty of ourcountry,” said the Chief Minister, urging the Government of India to ensurethat this defamation campaign against farmers is immediately ended.
Pointingout that despite 11 rounds of discussions, the Government of India was unmovedand unconcerned about the protests of the farmers across the country, and had not taken any positive step to meettheir demands, the Chief Minister said that “Instead, the statements andallegations of some of the leaders who are not familiar with the groundrealities have aggravated the situation and have further anguished the farmers.”
Drawingthe attention of the House to some of the most reprehensible statements of theBJP leaders, at the Centre and in Haryana, the Chief Minister said it wasshameful that they were heading the governments at the national level and inthe neighbouring states. Their statements raised the worries and apprehensionsnot only of the farmers and farm workers but also of our government as these donot augur well for our future, the Chief Minister strongly condemning the useof terms “anti-national and Khalistanis” against the farmers.
Takingstrong exception to Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public DistributionMinister Piyush Goyal’s allegation of the Punjab government trying to misleadfarmers, the Chief Minister said there was no reason for his government tointerfere in the farmers’ agitation as they had always been peaceful. ThePunjab Government has always supported the farmers, and shall continue toprotect their interests in all circumstances, he asserted. He also slammedGoyal on the latter’s totally baseless and malicious claim that Maoists andanti-national elements have hijacked the farmers’ protest, advising him not toprovoke the peaceful farmers. In any case, if Goyal has any information onanti-nationals being part of the agitation, why does his government not takeaction against them.
Reactingsharply to BJP National Secretary Tarun Chugh’s allegation of misleading and deceptive narrative being created on theagricultural bills and causing misunderstanding to spread among the farmers,the Chief Minister asked why the Government of India, with all the powers atits disposal, has failed to create a narrative favourable to the farmers.
Referringto disgraceful remarks of Haryana Agriculture Minister JP Dalal that thefarmers who lost their lives during the agitation would in any case have diedin their respective homes, the Chief Minister said he had believed that theduty of the Agriculture Minister is to speak of farmers’ welfare and theirwell-being and not undermine their hard work and sacrifice. He demanded anunconditional apology from Dalal for his insensitive conduct, pointing out thata more than 200 farmers (including 125 from Punjab) had so far died during theagitation.
TermingHaryana Chief ML Khattar’s conduct “mostregrettable”, Captain Amarinder said the Government of the neighbouring statehad gone against the established norms of democratic functioning by using forceagainst the agitators and also digging roads and putting barricades etc intheir way. He also lashed out at Khattar’s claim on his government having“inputs” on presence of Khalistani separatists in the ongoing farmers’agitation, and also that “the Punjab Chief Minister is fanning this protest andoffice bearers of the Punjab Chief Minister’s office are leading the protest”.If the Haryana Chief Minister has any firm information on separatist, why doeshe not give such information to his party’s government in Delhi, instead ofdefaming the Punjabi farmers, asked Captain Amarinder, adding that Punjab doesnot instigate agitations, but refuses to interfere in most peaceful agitationof farmers being carried on in a democratic manner.
TheChief Minister also lambasted other BJP leaders like Ashwani Sharma, HarjitSingh Grewal and Surjit Singh Jiyani for their shameful comments and statementson the farmers’ agitation, terming their behaviour as disgraceful.