Chandigarh, August 14
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab Kisan Wing state president and MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan has accused the Badal family of colluding with the Narendra Modi-led central government. The AAP leader questioned the senior Badal’s long silence on anti-agriculture laws, saying that when the Union government was forcibly imposing the black agriculture laws; senior Badal kept speaking in favor of these deadly laws through video, calling them pro-farmers; but when he had to quit the Modi government under the pressure of the farmers, he (Badal) never once opened his mouth against the black laws.
In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Saturday, Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that Punjab’s most senior political leader and self-proclaimed messiah of the farmers, Parkash Singh Badal did not meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue of three black agricultural laws; while the farmers of Punjab along with the country, had been protesting against the three black farm laws for a long time and had been sitting on the Delhi borders for the last nine months for their demands.
Taking a dig, Sandhwan said if the issue at the centre was about Sukhbir Singh Badal or Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s chair (ministership) then the senior Badal would have had made rounds at the doorsteps of Modi and Amit Shah till now. He asked the people of the state to be aware of the political machinations of the Badal family. Sandhwan said the history of the Badal family is a witness that it does not take a minute to show opportunism. “For instance, Badals on several occasions have lauded these agricultural laws terming them beneficial for the farmers. Advising farmers not to speak against the new farm laws, they kept praising the Modi government and the laws,” he said.
The AAP leader said even the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Badal and Member Lok Sabha, Sukhbir Singh Badal sang the praises of black agriculture laws in the annual all-party meeting convened by the Punjab government on the issue of agriculture laws. “But when the pressure from the farmers and the people of Punjab increased; seeing the vote bank coming to an end, the Badals distanced themselves from the Modi government under a conspiracy. But Parkash Singh Badal did not issue a single statement against the agricultural laws and in support of the farmers,” he said.
Sandhwan said this is a clear indication that the Badals will join hands with the BJP if they get a chance. He said the Badal family had no concern with Punjab, farmers and laborers as despite the ‘public whip’ issued by the farmers to attend every sitting of the Parliament session, the president of Shiromani Akali Dal Badal and Member Lok Sabha, Sukhbir Singh Badal was absent from Parliament.
