Chandigarh, Punjab:
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder, who held a sit-in today against the three controversial farm laws, attacked the central government as he said “what they’ve done is anti-national”.
Punjab has become the epicentre of the protests against the three laws linked to agriculture sector amid widespread protests. Amarinder Singh is the first chief minster in the country who has participated in an agitation to express his discontent against the centre.
Today, as he made a rare public appearance amid the pandemic, he told reporters: “ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence agency) is always looks for potential recruits. My government has been in power for three years; around 150 terrorists have been arrested and 700 weapons have been seized. Punjab had been quiet for some time… now they (central government) did this (passed the farm laws). If you snatch food from somebody, won’t they be angry? They become a target for ISI.”
He made the remarks when he was questioned about the farmers’ protest. “What they (the central government has done) is anti-national,” Captain Amarinder Singh said.
Questioned about his comments on an incident in Delhi this morning, where a tractor was burnt in the heart of the national capital near the iconic India Gate, Captain Amarinder Singh backed the protesters, saying: “If it’s my tractor and I want to burn it… what is their problem?”
The Punjab Chief Minister held a sit-in at the ancestral village of freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh – Khatkar Kalan.
On Sunday, he said his government will see if Punjab can amend state laws to protect farmers from any fallout of the three controversial laws. “We are already consulting with legal and agricultural experts, and all those impacted by the central government’s calamitous legislations, to decide on the future course of action,” Amarinder Singh said in a statement.
Three bills – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill – were signed by the President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday into laws.
While critics say farmers will lose bargaining powers with the entry of private players into the agricultural sector and they won’t get a minimum support price for their produce, the government has said the new laws will help small and marginal farmers.