Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday welcomed the Centre’s decision to allow the agitating farmers to enter Delhi, but slammed the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana for its continued use force to stop farmers even after the Union Government’s conciliatory move.
Though the Central government has allowed the farmers to enter the national capital to exercise their democratic right to protest, the Haryana government is engaged in a confrontationist approach against the farmers moving towards Delhi, said the Chief Minister.
Captain Amarinder also reiterated his appeal to the Central government to initiate immediate talks to address farmers’ concerns on the farm laws and resolve the simmering issue. Having taken the first step towards finding a peaceful and amicable solution to the problem, the Centre should now move quickly towards holding further talks with the kisan unions to thrash out the problem triggered by the agricultural legislations which have threatened the lives and livelihoods of the farmers, CM said.
The Chief Minister, meanwhile, expressed appreciation for the remarkable restraint shown by farmers in face of the Haryana police’s action. “Their exemplary behaviour shows that farmers are not interested in confrontation, they only want to be heard, which is their constitutional right,” he added.
Pointing out that the farmers had refused to be provoked and had not created any law and order problem even after being subjected to teargassing and powerful sprays of water in this cold weather, Captain Amarinder said this showed that all the farmers desired was to take their voice to Delhi. The farmers were neither misguided nor out to indulge in creating any problems for the people of India, he asserted, urging the Government of India to take cognisance of the miseries of the nation’s “annadatas” and accede to their demand for a legal provision to assure continuation of MSP.