हिंदी
…Cotton growers forced to sell their produce in Malwa ‘mandi’ below MSP
…AAP MP listens to farmers’ grievances at Maur Mandi
Maur Mandi/Bathinda, October 23
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab president and Member of Parliament (MP) Bhagwant Mann on Friday castigated chief minister Capt Raja Amarinder Singh for forcing the farmers in Punjab to sell their produce below the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the government, asking him to ensure procurement of their produce at the MSP or step down for his failure to save them from the crisis. Mann also slammed the Badals, the so-called champions of the farmers in the state for their anti-farmer pasture.
Bhagwant Mann visited the Maur Mandi on Friday to take stock of the cotton produce and met the farmers and listened to their grievances. He was accompanied by Tawandi Sabo MLA Prof Baljinder Kaur and other leaders including Navdeep Jeeda, Neel Garg and Gurjant Singh Sibia
Addressing farmers on the occasion, Mann said that the way cotton produce was lying in state of neglect in Malwa ‘mandis’ and maize in the Doaba region, adding that if the deadly three laws brought in by the Modi government at the centre, wheat and paddy would and other crops would also procured at half the price, adding that the chief minister was sitting pretty in his farm house without any qualms for the farmers.
The AAP MP said that if the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government could give MSP benefit over and above the Swaminathan recommendation, Why could Amarinder Singh government ensure procurement of crops at the MSP. Mann said that he (Amarinder Singh) had always been lying on addressing the farmers’ issues and concerns, citing fiscal crunch in the state.
Mann said that during the peak crop season when the farmers should be in their fields, they were forced to protest on the roads sit on the railway tracks to fight for their rights. He had a piece of advice for Captain Amarinder Singh: “Instead of tiring the farmers’ from their struggle by playing as Modi’s pawn, you should take up the issue surrounding the future of a large number of peasantry”
Mann, terming the Bills passed by him to negate the central farm law as sham, said that unless or until the government came out its own legislation guaranteeing purchase of all crops at the MSP, the farmers would continue to be exploited, denying them their legitimate right. He called upon one and all to stand behind the struggling farmers from protecting their future.
Mann on the occasion slammed the Badals for their role in clearing the passage for the anti-farmers Bills, saying that they had betrayed the farmers by acting against their interest. He said that the resignation by union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal was the result of the mounting pressure of the farmers’ struggle. He said the farmers won’t forget them for their deeds.
