Chandigarh, July 24
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab on Saturday took stern notice of the remarks made by the newly appointed president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Navjot Sidhu during his coronation celebrations quoting the farmers that ‘thirsty has to walk to the well’ (they need our support so they have to approach us first) and said that such remarks smell of arrogance. AAP Punjab Kisan Wing president and MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that the newly elected Congress President Navjot Sidhu had announced from the stage on Friday that he had put an end to his ego. “Well, it’s nice to hear that you admitted that you have ego; there is arrogance. But it is a pity that on one hand, Navjot Sidhu announced to kill his ego, on the other hand; to stand in favor of the farmers, he also made a condition that the thirsty (farmers) have to come to the well (Navjot Sidhu) because the well does not go to the thirsty,” he said.
Sandhwan said that the clumsy words of Navjot Sidhu to prove helplessness of the farmers of Punjab were highly reprehensible. In a statement issued from the party office here on Saturday, Kultar Singh Sandhwan appealed to Navjot Sidhu that he should immediately apologise for making such remarks to the farmers; as the farmers are the ‘annadatas’ of the country. “They produce food, pulses, vegetables, oil and fruits for the countrymen without any greed for the chair,” he added. Advising Sidhu to read the post-independence history of the country, Sandhwan said that when there was a shortage of food grains, milk, vegetables and other food items in the country, the former Prime Ministers of the country, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri had come to the farmers of Punjab; to meet the food shortage in the country. “In this context, Navjot Sidhu’s challenge is like a warning to the farmers, which the Aam Aadmi Party strongly condemns,” said Sandhwan.
Addressing Navjot Sidhu, Kultar Singh Sandhwan said, “You should know Sidhu Sahab that ‘annadatas’ digs his own wells to feed the whole country and also raises crops and quenches the thirst of others. This is the reason why the agitating farmers do not even drink the water of the Narendra Modi-led centre government; eating food is far cry.” He appealed to Navjot Sidhu to retract his words and apologise to the ‘annadatas’. It may so not happen that like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi; effigies of Punjab Congress president Navjot Sidhu starts burning in Punjab and Haryana, he added.
