Amritsar : Former union minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal appealed to the central government to listen to the voice of the farmers and accept their demands including promises made to the farmers when they withdrew the Kisan Andolan two years back.
Talking to media here, Harsimrat Badal said the central government had agreed to constitute a committee to examine ways and means to make MSP a legal entity two years back but this was not done. “This as well as the non-acceptance of various other demands of farmers has forced them to agitate again. The centre should examine all the demands made by the farmers positively and implement them at the earliest”. She also called for releasing all Sikh detainees (Bandi Singh’s) saying the central government had agreed to do so on the occasion of 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji in 2019 but had failed to keep the promise”.
Harsimrat Badal also took on chief minister Bhagwant Mann for allegedly betraying the cause of the farmers. She said the chief minister had promised farmers that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government would procure crops at MSP once it formed the government in the State but had failed to do so. She said the chief minister had also failed in his responsibility as home minister to prevent an attack on farmers by the Haryana police in Punjab territory. “No case has been registered against Haryana police personnel for attacking Punjab farmers with tear gas and rubber bullets”.
She condemned the Haryana government for turning the Shambhu border into an international border by barricading it and refusing to allow Punjabi farmers to move towards their capital – Delhi. She said while one farmer had been martyred scores were injured during firing by rubber bullets. She called for an end to such brutal police actions by Haryana.
The Bathinda MP also asserted the Congress party was also shedding crocodile tears for the cause of the farmers. “It is the same party which refused point blank to implement the Swaminathan Commission report which calls for a fair farmer friendly approach towards fixing the MSP for various crops”. She said it was sheer hypocrisy that the Congress was now promising it would implement MSP for all crops if elected to power.
