·  MODI & TOMAR UNAWARE ABOUT BASICS OF FARMING & FAR AWAY FROM GROUND REALITIES
·  CASTIGATES HARSIMRAT BADAL FOR SIGNING ‘DEATH WARRANT’ OF FARMERS
·  BLACK LAWS TO RUIN PUNJAB FARMERS JUST LIKE BIHAR & U.P.
·   CONGRESS PARTY TO FIGHT FROM ROAD TO SUPREME COURT TO GET THESE FARM BILLS ROLLED BACK
CHANDIGARH: The Cabinet Minister and senior Congress leader S. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa today took on the Union Government over the issue of farm bills and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar are hell bent upon bringing the farmers from Punjab to devastation through black laws and don’t have even the remotest of connection with farming.
Presenting as proof the affidavits of both the leaders, the Congress leader said that the PM and the Agriculture Minister don’t possess even an inch of cultivable hence they are completely oblivious of the trials and tribulations the farming sector is going through. It would be first time in the annals of the country that the minister holding the Agriculture portfolio doesn’t have agricultural land. Till date, eminent leaders such as Gurdial Singh Dhillon, Balram Jakhar, Chaudhary Devi Lal and Surjit Singh Barnala have been the Agriculture Ministers of the country who were both politicians as well as deeply connected with farming occupation.
Pointing out further, S. Randhawa said that more than the PM and the Agriculture Minister, it is the Akali leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal who is more to blame as she signed on the ‘Death Warrant’ of the farmers despite hailing from the family which every now and then so loudly professes to champion the cause of farmers. At the time of passing of the ordinances, Harsimrat Kaur Badal was a member of the Union Cabinet and the anti-farmer ordinances were given the go ahead with her consent only.
The Badal family before mouthing statements about protesting in New Delhi at Talwandi Sabo, owes an answer to the people as to whether they are partners in the Union Government or not? They have put the black spot on the history of Akali Dal by stabbing the farming community in the back, said S. Randhawa.
Quoting the ‘Financial Inclusion Survey 2016-17’ conducted by the NABARD, the Congress leader said that the average monthly income of a family engaged in Agriculture is placed at Rs. 23,133 in Punjab which is the highest. In Haryana, this income stands at Rs. 18,496. Both these States operate on mandi system. On the other side, the sorry state of affairs in the States operating without mandi system can be gauged from the fact that in Bihar, this income stands at Rs. 7175 and Rs. 6668 in Uttar Pradesh which is the lowest in the country. Sounding a warning note, S. Randhawa said that the conditions of Punjab farmers would be as pitiable as those of Bihar and U.P. with the coming into force of these black laws.
Divulging more, the Congress leader said that with the mandi board becoming a thing of the past, the condition of link roads of the villages would be rendered deplorable. Apart from this, the compensation of Rs. 2 lakh given by the mandi board to the farmers and labourers affected by mishaps, would also fade into oblivion. These black laws would sound death knell not only for the farmers but for the commission agents, labourers, traders, sheller, tractor, transport industry as well as the small shopkeepers too. The Congress Party would take every step to get the laws rolled back and all the avenues would be resorted to including the protests at roads to knocking at the doors of Supreme Court.