On Monday (September 13), Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh courted controversy after he instigated farmer unions to agitate in the National Capital instead of the State.
While speaking about the ongoing farmer protests, Captain Singh blamed the demonstrators for causing economic loss to Punjab. “I want to tell Punjab farmers that this is their land. Their ongoing protests here are not in the state’s interest,” he stated. Furthermore, the veteran Congress leader instigated them to storm Delhi and pressurise the Centre to repeal the farm laws.
“Instead of holding protests in the state, farmers should mount pressure on the Centre to get farm laws repealed,” he added. As per a report in India Today, Captain Amarinder Singh also instigated the farmer protestors to cause disruptions in the neighbouring State of Haryana. “If the farmers were stopped in Punjab, they would not have reached the Singhu and Tikri borders. You do whatever you want in Haryana and Delhi but why are you causing loss to Punjab?” he emphasised. He has also accused the farmers of hampering the development in the state by holding protests at 113 places in Punjab.
I want to tell Punjab farmers that this is their land. Their ongoing protests here are not in the state’s interest. Instead of holding protests in the state, farmers should mount pressure on the Centre to get farm laws repealed: Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh in Hoshiarpur pic.twitter.com/3JFSt0cpuZ
— ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2021
The Punjab Chief Minister spoke about the matter after laying the foundation of a government college in Hoshiarpur. The Punjab Congress has been a vocal supporter of the anti-farm law agitation since its onset and has been instigating the protests in the Delhi border.
However, the grand old party had to soften its stance from time to time to counter the massive economic losses.
Recently, while the police in his own state Punjab lathi-charged and fired water cannons on protesting farmers, Amarinder Singh was seen calling out Haryana CM ML Khattar for firm action against agitating mobs in Karnal.
Earlier in July, ex-Punjab Congress Chief Sunil Jhakar had conceded that it was the Punjab Chief Minister who had instigated the farmers to go to Delhi and protest. Jhakar was speaking during the inauguration of Navjot Singh Sidhu as the Punjab Congress chief. “BJP leaders are hiding in their homes because farmers are against the black farm laws introduced by the party. If Captain Amarinder had not handled them aptly and sent these farmers to Delhi against the BJP, we would have had to deal with them and their anger in Punjab. This is one of the biggest achievements of our CM,” he had revealed.
