CHANDIGARH
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) saying the party had completely exposed itself by implementing the farm laws in the midst of the crisis while pretending to be standing with the farmers.
Even as the AAP was claiming to be supporting the agitating farmers, the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi had executed the laws through a gazette notification on 23 November 2020, the Chief Minister pointed out, adding that the party was clearly indulging in political games to further its electoral agenda.
Quite clearly, the AAP had been working behind the farmers’ backs all these days, said the Chief Minister, adding that even before the farmers had embarked on their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, the Kejriwal government had actually issued the notification which would spell the death-knell for the ‘annadattas’ in the national capital.
“Do they have no shame?” asked Captain Amarinder, saying that the AAP was misleading the kisan unions by pretending to be supporting their cause while all this time, Kejriwal’s party was merely indulging in political theatrics.
“First, they failed to pass any amendment laws in the Delhi Assembly to negate the central laws, as was done in Punjab. And now they have gone so far as to officially notify the agricultural legislations in Delhi, where AAP is in power. The party’s true intent and affiliation has been utterly exposed,” Captain Amarinder noted.
Responding to the AAP’s criticism of his handling of the situation and for taking on Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Capt Amarinder remarked that while he was busy fighting for the rights of his farmers, Kejriwal was preparing to pull the rug under the feet of the farmers, who had been braving all kinds of atrocities by the Haryana government in their quest for justice.
“Not once did the AAP criticise the brutality inflicted on farmers,” he pointed out, adding that, instead, Kejriwal’s party had failed to even condemn the Akalis for their role in the legislation of the agricultural Ordinances. Observing that the AAP government in Delhi did not even accept the farmers’ demand for a protest site at Ram Lila ground or Jantar Mantar, Captain Amarinder asked why they had been toeing the BJP line in this whole affair.
Captain Amarinder also lambasted the AAP for its suggestion that the Punjab government should pass a Bill in the state Assembly to make MSP a statutory right for farmers in the state. “It is obvious that the AAP either does not understand the problems of farmers or simply does not care,” he said, asking that “even if the state has the money to buy all the foodgrain, which it simply does not, where would it sell the same?”
In any case, he pointed out that MSP and other issues raised by the farmers did not relate to Punjab alone but farmers of the whole country. “Can’t you see that farmers from all agricultural states are marching to Delhi to fight the farm laws? Or is that you simply cannot see beyond your own petty political interests,” he asked AAP leaders.
Reacting to these allegations, the AAP’s Punjab unit on Tuesday said that Capt Amarinder Singh and the BJP have joined hands to make completely false allegations that Delhi government has implemented the farm laws.
In a statement the party’s Punjab unit said that Modi government had made a grand plan to arrest the protesting farmers, but Kejriwal government’s rejection to convert stadiums into jails ensured that the plan failed. Stung by their failure to put the protesting farmers into jails, the BJP entered into a setting with Capt Amrinder to defame Kejriwal and spread false allegations that Kejriwal govt implemented the farm laws.