Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday accused Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of “playing puppet of the BJP-led central government” and said he was trying to suppress all voices who were speaking out against Centre’s farm laws.
Mr. Badal said the Chief Minister was not fulfilling his duties towards Punjabis.
“Capt. Amarinder should have been in the forefront of the fight to secure the rights of the farmers of the State. You (Capt. Amarinder) should have led the agitation and even been ready to sacrifice all for it. Instead, you are only giving lip sympathy to farmers,” said Mr. Badal, addressing a press conference in Jalandhar.
Mr. Badal accused the Chief Minister for failing to rescind the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act (APMC), which was amended by him in 2017 and which contained all the provisions of the three farm laws.
“Presently the situation was such that even if the Centre repealed the three laws they would still be applicable in Punjab as the Congress government had refused to take back the changes made in its APMC Act,” alleged Mr. Badal.
Separately in a statement, former Union Minister and Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal said Capt. Amarinder should tell people about how much longer he would wait before exercising legal options to ensure the three agricultural Bills, passed unanimously in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha to counter the ill effects of the Centre farm laws, were forwarded to the President for assent by the Governor of Punjab.
Mrs. Badal said the go-slow policy adopted by the Chief Minister in pursuing the three Bills passed by State Assembly clearly indicated that he was deliberately delaying action on the issue.
“The Chief Minister should spell out what legal options you have taken since the last 80 days, when the bills were passed in the State Assembly, to ensure justice is done to the farmers of Punjab in the case. If you have done nothing, which is the case, you should explain why you have failed the farmers of Punjab yet again,” she added.
Captain Amarinder, however, responded by saying Mr. Badal and Ms. Harsimrat Kaur had been giving contradictory statements on the Governor’s assent issue, terming it “a classic case of Charles Darwin’s missing link, which the Akalis seem to be suffering from.”
On Mr Badal’s claim that the resolutions passed in the Punjab Assembly against the three farm laws had not been sent to the Governor, Capt. Amarinder said the Shiromani Akali Dal president had clearly lost it.
“Or perhaps he is suffering from serious amnesia since his party colleagues, including his own brother-in-law Bikram Majithia, had accompanied me to the Governor’s House for submitting the resolution and the three State Amendment Bills,” said Capt. Amarinder
