Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said it was unfortunate that the farmers agitating against Centre’s farm Laws had given a political twist to his remarks instead of understanding the pain and misery caused to the people on account of their protests in the State, which were quite uncalled for, given his government’s continued support to them.

Reacting to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s criticism of the remarks he made on September 13 on the issue, the Chief Minister stated that despite his government’s unequivocal support to their cause, the farmers had misinterpreted his appeal and, instead, tried to link it with the coming State Assembly polls. He reiterated that the Congress government, as well as the people of Punjab, had always stood with the farmers on the issue of the farm laws, and it was sad that they were now suffering due to the continued protests of the farming community across the State.

The Chief Minister stressed that there was no question of trying to split the farmers of Punjab and Haryana, all of whom were ‘victims of the apathy’ of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the neighbouring State. “My government, in contrast, has not only firmly supported the farmers’ fight against the farm laws but had even brought in amendment Bills in the Assembly to mitigate their adverse impact,” he pointed out. Those Bills had, unfortunately, not been forwarded by the Governor to the President for assent, he noted.

Rejects Morcha’s claims

Highlighting that the farmers’ fight was against the BJP, which was solely responsible for thrusting the ‘anti-farmer’ legislations on Punjab and other States, he observed that inconveniencing the people of Punjab was not justified in the circumstances. He rejected the Morcha’s claims that there was no paralysis of the government in Punjab due to the farmers’ protests.

It was not the “Adanis” or the “Ambanis” whose interests were being hurt by such protests but the common people of the State, as well as its economy, he remarked. “The Adanis’ assets in Punjab were a miniscule 0.8% of their total assets, and the presence of the Reliance Group stood at a nominal 0.1%.” The losses caused to these industries due to the farmers’ unrest in the State were too minor to be of any serious concern to them. “It is the people of Punjab who are suffering due to the disruption of services as a result of the protests,” he added.