MOHALI: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had imposed an unannounced Emergency in Punjab by arresting farm leaders and putting them under house arrest simply because they had reminded chief minister Bhagwant Mann about the promises made by him to farmers before taking over the reins of the State in 2022.
Addressing media persons here, senior leaders N K Sharma, Ranjit Singh Gill and Parminder Singh Sohana said “chief minister Bhagwant Mann humiliated and threatened leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha after inviting them for talks”.
They said instead of trying to resolve the grievances of farmers he left the meeting in a huff when he was reminded of the promises made by him and his boss Arvind Kejriwal in the run up to the 2022 assembly elections.
Asserting that the AAP government had gone back on all promises made to farmers, Mr N K Sharma said “the chief minister as well as Arvind Kejriwal not only promised procurement of all 22 crops on Minimum Support Price (MSP) but encouraged farmers to sow pulses and maize promising they would be procured on MSP. Farmers who believed the word of the AAP leaders lost hundreds of crores even as only 0.01 per cent of the entire Moong crop was procured on MSP by the AAP government”.
The leaders said farmers who suffered immense losses during floods two years back were also betrayed by the chief minister who had even promised to pay compensation for livestock losses of goats and hens leave alone crop losses. They said subsequently there were numerous occasions when farmers suffered losses due to climatic conditions but they did not get any aid from the AAP government.
The leaders said in stark contrast, former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal used to come out and meet all leaders of the opposition as well as Kisan leaders in case they had any grievance with the government. “This same policy of resolution through dialogue was followed with all Unions and associations leading to all round peace and prosperity”.
Meanwhile Mr N K Sharma and Mr Ranjit Gill described the chief minister’s action in Tehsils as an attempt to divert attention from the arrests of Kisan leaders and a photo op. “Corruption in Tehsils has increased during AAP tenure with money being funneled to the very top of the AAP high command in Delhi. The same is the case in case of drugs in the State with AAP leaders taking monthlies from drug smugglers even as sham exercises are being conducted against drug addiction”, the leaders added.