War of words has started between Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on the farm law notification issue. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, too, lashed out at the Delhi CM on the issue, saying that Kejriwal has stabbed the farmers in the back with implementation of the three central farm laws in Delhi.
Delhi CM Kejriwal on Wednesday said that millions of farmers from across the country, including Punjab, were protesting against the three farm laws enacted by the Modi government at the Centre in the bone-chilling winter nights, adding that the country’s “annaadaata” had been left to face all kinds of atrocities while fighting for their livelihood.
In a statement, Kejriwal accused the Punjab CM of siding with the Modi government instead of holding hands of the farmers during this distressing time when they were demanding repeal of the laws. Targeting Captain Amarinder Singh for his accusation that the Delhi government had cleared the passage for implementation of the three laws, Kejriwal said that this was nothing but a false propaganda against him and his government.
The Delhi CM said that the people of Punjab and the country knew full well that the laws brought in by the Centre, which were deemed to be in force after these getting the assent of the President of India. “How can Delhi state government or any other state government, for that matter, could implement or amend the central laws passed by Parliament?”
Kejriwal said that ever since the Delhi government had rejected the Delhi Police’s request to convert the nine Delhi stadiums into makeshift “detention centres”, the Modi government was hell-bent on “spreading rumours about me and my government”, adding that the PM tipped the Punjab CM to accomplish the mission.
Stung by the failure of the mission to convert the stadiums into temporary jails to lodge the agitating farmers into them, “the BJP government entered into a setting with Capt Amarinder Singh to mount a false and frivolous propaganda to defame me and my government for allegedly clearing the way for implementation of the contentious laws”, the Delhi CM said.
Kejriwal added that the Union government had formed a committee to pass these laws in Parliament, of which Captain was a member. He targeted the Punjab CM, saying: “The people of Punjab are asking you today why you didn’t raise your voice against the farm laws when they were being processed and passed in Parliament. The Punjab CM owes an explanation to the people.”
On the other hand, in a scathing response to his Delhi counterpart’s attack on him over the farmers’ issue, the Punjab Chief Minister on Wednesday lashed out at Kejriwal, saying that he stooped to low level of politics and indulged in double-speak in a desperate bid to wriggle out of his own failure to protect the interests of the farming community.
Slamming the AAP leader, he said that Kejriwal undermined the farmers’ fight by notifying one of the central laws in Delhi and asked him: “Why did you not stand against the Centre by passing your own state legislations like we did in Punjab?… Why else did he not bring any legislation in the state Assembly to at least try and negate some of the ill-effects of the central laws?”
Meanwhile, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that he and the farmers have been shocked to learn that Kejriwal had already implemented the Centre’s farm laws and even issued a gazette notification on 23 November. Stating that the latest act of Kejriwal has exposed him as well as AAP, Badal said the Delhi Chief Minister should withdraw the gazette notification immediately.
“Kejriwal should also announce that the Delhi government will not implement the three agri laws and will ensure assured government marketing at minimum support price (MSP).”
