Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Professor Prem Singh Chandumajra visited the PGI hospital here as well as the government hospital at Rajpura to meet farmers who have been injured due to firing of tear gas as well as live and plastic bullets during the ongoing peaceful agitation by farmers in Punjab.
Prof Chandumajra expressed shock that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab had given a free rein to the Haryana police to fire at farmers in Punjab territory. “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should explain why he had given this permission to the Haryana police in his role as home minister”.
The SAD leader said “it is clear that the AAP government in Punjab is acting in collusion with the Haryana government as well as the central government to thwart the farmers from marching peacefully to Delhi. There is no other reason why the farmers should be attacked by the Haryana police in Punjab territory”, he added.
Prof Chandumajra along with senior SAD leader Charanjit Singh Brar also interacted with injured farmers at the PGI here as well as in Rajpura. The farmers said they were met with brutal force and that it was a miracle that they were still alive. The farmers also asserted that live bullets had been used against them”.
Asserting that the farmers had an absolute right to peaceful protest, Prof Chandumajra said “using such violence against farmers is a sin against the ‘annadaata’ who is feeding the nation ‘’. He said instead of using such heavy handed measures to prevent the farmers from marching to Delhi, the Union government as well as the union agriculture minister should disclose why the centre had not implemented the assurances it had given in writing to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha when the latter called off the Kisan Andolan and lifted its blockade of Delhi. He said among the commitments given by the centre included forming a committee to make MSP a legal right of the farming community. He said it was unfortunate that the farmers had to resort to protests because the central government did not implement any of the assurances given to farmers during the last two years.
