Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday said he is ready to lead the political fight against the three anti-farmer bills passed in Parliament. I will do what it takes to save my farmers and my state from these dangerous new laws, whose implementation will cripple the farming sector and also destroy Punjab’s lifeline of agriculture, he said in a statement here.
His remarks come a day ahead of the Punjab bandh announced by several farmer groups against the bills, which deregularise the sale of agricultural produce. Several organisations have also given a call for a Bharat bandh on Friday on the same issue.
Farmer organisations and opposition parties claim that the new legislation will lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system. The chief minister urged all political parties to rise above petty considerations and come on one platform to unitedly fight against the bills, which he said will destroy farmers.
The CM said he is ready to lead the political fight against the unconstitutional bills with all his might. He said the Congress has always stood with farmers and will fight shoulder to shoulder with them to scuttle the Centre’s plans to ruin Punjab.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government has stooped to a new low by bringing these bills, and that too in a totally undemocratic and unparliamentary manner, Singh said. His government will oppose them in the interest of not just the farmers and the state but the entire country, the CM said.
Singh dismissed Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s resignation from the Union Cabinet as mockery of the Akalis history of sacrifices, before the Badals hijacked the party and converted it into their personal fiefdom. Is giving up a berth in the Union Cabinet a sacrifice? The Badals clearly do not know the meaning of sacrifice, he said.
He ridiculed SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal’s statement that his party can make any sacrifice for the farmers. What are you still doing in the anti-farmer NDA government at the Centre, he asked the Akali leader.
Parliament has passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill.
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