CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday appealed to the farmers to spare the state and instead hold protests in Delhi and Haryana.Since the farm laws were passed by the Union government, the farmers should shift the agitation venue to Delhi borders in order to put pressure on the Centre, he said.
Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of a government college at Mukhliana village in Hoshiarpur, the CM said the protests and sit-ins being held at 113 places across Punjab, including at toll plazas, were not at all in the state’s interests. “Punjab will suffer financially... There is no use sitting at 113 places in Punjab and weakening its financial position,” he said. “It is your Punjab, your villages, your people. You do whatever you want to do at Delhi (border), put pressure on them (Centre) and make them agree,” Singh said.At another event, Amarinder asked the Centre to shed its stubbornness and repeal the farm laws.
Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of College of Agriculture in SBS Nagar district, he said, “The Constitution has been amended 127 times since 1950. So why not one more time to repeal the farm laws for providing succour to the farmers who have been sitting at Singhu and Tikri borders?”
The CM said the central farm laws have already been rejected in the assembly and replaced by the state government’s farm laws, which were sent to governor for his approval, “but to our dismay, these have not yet been forwarded to the President”.
He also launched a fierce attack on the Shiromani Akali Dal for “double-crossing” the farmers, saying the agriculture laws were drafted with SAD’s consent, with Harsimrat Kaur Badal as Union minister, but the party later changed tune when it backfired.Calling Amarinder’s comments irresponsible, Haryana’s home minister Anil Vij accused him of instigating farmers.