Chandigarh, December 1
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab MLA and Kisan Wing state president Kultar Singh Sandhwan alleged that Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had shied away from his responsibility by writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding waiver of farmers’ loans. Sandhwan said that without a doubt the responsibility of waiving the debts of farmers and laborers lies with the centre and the state government as the Congress party had promised complete debt waiver in the 2017 Punjab elections and during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP along with the Akali Dal Badal had also announced to waive all debts of farmers and laborers.
He said that the Aam Aadmi Party has always advocated for debt relief to farmers and farm laborers and with the formation of the AAP government in 2022, the debts of the farmers and farm laborers would be waived. In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Wednesday, Kultar Singh Sandhwan said, “Today the entire agriculture sector is facing a crisis due to anti-farmer and anti-agriculture policies of the central and Punjab government. The farm laborers dependent on the farmers and farming are burdened with debt. The farmers and farm laborers are in debt to the tune of over Rs 1.5 lakh crore, which they have taken from organized and unorganized organizations.”
Sandhwan said that for the 2017 elections, the Congress had promised in its election manifesto to waive off the entire debt of the farmers. Along with the written promise in the manifesto, regular debt waiver forms were filled up from the farmers in the same way as were filled from the unemployed youth for Ghar-Ghar Rozgar and from students for mobile phones. Like the unemployed youth, the innocent farmers formed the Congress government believing in the Congress, but in return the Congress government betrayed the farmers and laborers because in the last over four-and-a-half years; the Congress government has not even waived the debts of the government banks, the debt of arhtiyas and other unorganized sectors is a far thing.
The AAP leader asked the Channi government to explain why the promise made by the Congress to the people of Punjab was not fulfilled. What does he (Channi) want to prove by writing a letter to the Prime Minister today? By making such dramas, will they forget the written promises of the Congress?
Criticizing Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Kultar Singh Sandhwan said, “Sukhbir Singh Badal and party has no moral right to say anything about farmers, farm loans and farm laborers as the Badals have had a coalition government with the BJP at the centre and Punjab for 15 years during the last three decades. This was the period when the trend of suicides among the farmers and farm laborers reached its peak. Will Sukhbir Singh Badal tell how much debt the farmers incurred during his rule and how much debt he waived? The Badals, who had been in power with the BJP at the centre, should explain what gifts he had brought from the centre for the farmers of Punjab. Sukhbir Singh Badal will have to explain why he did not bring any special package from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the debt waiver of farmers of Punjab. How many Food Processing Units did Harsimrat Kaur bring in the state as Food Processing Minister?”
Sandhwan said that Capt Amarinder Singh, who has become the spokesperson of Sukhbir Singh Badal and the entire BJP, should answer why the promise made by NDA under the leadership of Narendra Modi to the farmers of the country before the 2014 elections was not fulfilled even after seven years. He said that the people of Punjab, especially the farmers and laborers would not forget the stabbing of ‘annadatas’ in the back by the Congress, BJP and the Akali Dal. Sandhwan alleged that the annadatas of the country and the farm laborers were only the vote bank of these conventional parties; which was being used and thrown away.
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