Chandigarh, March 5
Amid continued ruckus and unruly behaviour by them in the House, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday slammed the Akalis for their shocking conduct, including their shameful U-turn on the Farm Laws.
As they continued to disrupt the proceedings of the House despite his repeated appeals, the Speaker suspended all the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLAs for the rest of the Budget Session. Adjourning the House for 15 minutes, the Speaker also asked the Marshals to remove the Akalis members from the House over their disorderly behaviour.
Amid cries of `Shame, Shame’ from the Treasury Benches, the Chief Minister, speaking on the farmers’ agitation during his speech in response to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s address in the Vidhan Sabha, said both Sukhbir Badal and Harsimrat Badal had brazenly cheated the people of Punjab with their double-speak on the Farm Laws.
Pointing out that Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president had initially accused his government of misleading the farmers, and claimed that the Farm Laws were in favour of the farmers, the Chief Minister said it was later that Sukhbir completely and shamelessly backtracked to oppose the legislations. He read out from an extract of a letter of June 25, 2020, in which Sukhbir had brazenly backed the Farm Laws, emphasising that “there is nothing in these Ordinances which is either against the Federal structure or against the farmers.” In case the Government is unclear on this, then as and when the Bill is presented in Parliament, we will, at that time, assure the farmers of the country about MSP and Procurement from inside the Parliament itself, Sukhbir had then stated in the said letter.
The Chief Minister further pointed out that the Akali president, terming it a clear enunciation of the opinion of SAD on the issue, had also claimed that the interpretation of the Farm Laws suggesting that they will spell doom for MSP and Procurement was “wrong.” It was much later that the Akalis, when faced with the wrath of the farmers and the threat of political oblivion over the issue, decided to renege on their earlier stand, Captain Amarinder pointed out.
As for Harsimrat, she had actually put out a video on Facebook categorically supporting the Farm Ordinances, which she called pro-farmer, said the Chief Minister. In fact, the Akalis supported the resolution moved by his government in the Vidhan Sabha against the central legislations and even went along to Governor’s House to submit the same before taking a U-turn, he added, as slogans of `Shame’ reverberated in the Treasury Benches.
Captain Amarinder recalled that union ministers Hardeep Puri and Som Prakash had categorically stated that Harsimrat was part of the cabinet meeting that approved the Farm Ordinances and raised no objection.
Calling the Akali leaders as `double-faced’, the Chief Minister said “they say something here, and something there.” They had even made a mockery of the august House of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha with their double-speak, he said, adding that “they keep changing their stance and are now claiming to be pro-farmer.”
