CHANDIGARH: Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia today demanded the immediate release of farmer leaders who had been arrested at the instance of chief minister Bhagwant Mann besides asking the chief minister to apologize to the leaders for threatening and misbehaving with them during an official meeting yesterday.
Expressing shock at the manner in which leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, who had been invited for talks by the chief minister yesterday were being treated, Mr Bikram Majithia said “Mr Bhagwant Mann threatened the Kisan leaders with dire consequences when he was reminded of the promises he had made to farmers before assuming charge as chief minister in 2022”.
He said this was followed up with raids and arrests of Kisan leaders in a pre-dawn swoop today in a bid to foil the March 5 Andolan announced by them.
Asserting that the chief minister’s consistent erratic behavior was spoiling the image of Punjab and Punjabis, Mr Majithia said “recently during a visit to Hoshiarpur the chief minister misbehaved with an IPS officer besides speaking rudely with the Deputy Commissioner. His earlier acts of instability are well documented including his drunken antics onboard a Lufthansa plane from which he was deboarded”.
Reminding Mann about the promises made by him to farmers, the Akali leader said “Mann assured farmers and farm labourers that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would remodel farm policies to ensure no farm suicide occurred in the State.
He also assured farmers that farm income would be doubled and that his government would implement the Swaminathan Report whether the centre did that or not. Farmers were also assured that every crop would be procured by the State on minimum support price”.
Asserting that the chief minister had reneged on each and every promise made to the farmers, Mr Majithia said “when he was reminded of these promises he started threatening the farmers and walked out of the meeting rather than face them”.
Asserting that it was the democratic right of farmers to ask questions from the chief minister they had elected to power, Mr Majithia said “such an erratic and unstable behavior is unbecoming of a chief minister”.
He also requested AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal, who is reportedly visiting Punjab to attend a Vipasna session, that Mr Bhagwant Mann needed this treatment more than him and should be asked to attend the same to stabilize himself.