CHANDIGARH, Punjab—Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is under a cloud for the entire state where he is ruling after he made an appeal to the farmers agitating on the outskirts of Delhi to accept Home Minister of India Amit Shah’s appeal to shift their protests to Burari ground. The farmers have perceived Shah’s appeal as his tactic to trap them and weaken them.
In his appeal, Shah said, “If farmers’ unions want to hold discussions before December 3 then, I want to assure you all that as soon as you shift your protest to a structured place, the government will hold talks to address your concerns the very next day.”
He is talking about the Burari ground which is a vast open ground on the outskirt of Delhi, where it is considered to be quite easy for Delhi Police and other security forces of India to contain the agitators who mostly came from Punjab after facing all the excesses committed by Haryana Police on the way, irrespective of their strength.
Despite the serious apprehension expressed by the farmers of being trapped, Punjab Chief Minister favored Shah’s appeal in a detailed statement.
He urged farmers to reciprocate the Union Home Minister’s gesture by accepting his appeal to shift to a designated place, thus paving the way for early talks to resolve their issues.
Captain Amarinder said, “It was in the best interest of the farming community and the nation at large. Shah’s offer to advance talks with farmers from December 3, and his statement reflecting the Centre’s willingness to listen to the farmers was a welcome step. The only solution to the current stalemate on the Farm Laws issue was discussed.”
Since the Home Minister had made it clear that the Government of India was ‘ready to deliberate on every problem and demand’ of the farmers, and would hold talks the day after the farmers shifted to the designated site in Delhi for their protest, the Kisan leaders should also move forward, said the Chief Minister. Only by sitting across the table can both sides come to a solution to the problem, he added.
“The purpose of their protest was not to block highways and inconvenience people but to pressurize the Central Government to listen to their voice. The farmers had already won half the battle by bringing the Union Government to the negotiating table without further delay. In the circumstances, the farmers should grab the Union Home Minister’s offer and make the most of the opportunity to resolve the crisis triggered by the central laws,” he said.
He and his government were prepared to extend their full support to these negotiations, and were willing to mediate in the collective interest of all, Captain Amarinder reiterated. It was in Punjab’s interest, and that of every Punjabi, to find an early solution to the problem, he added.
This statement of the Punjab Chief Minister has drawn questions over his solidarity he is expressing with the farmers who have converged on entry points of Delhi from Haryana and given sleepless nights to Modi government of BJP and its Police.
Taking a jibe at him, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA in Delhi Raghav Chadha said, “Captain Amarinder Singh is dancing to the tune of BJP. This is how he has become the chief minister of BJP, Punjab or its people. I would like to ask him that the BJP on whose directions he is acting, is the party that attacked the producer of the food with tear gas. This is the party that used water cannons on the farmers. It dug the highways to prevent the entry of the farmers to Delhi”.
“Thus CM has betrayed the farmers and he is a puppet of the BJP”, he added.
Notably, Amarinder’s entire role in his political career is under a cloud. For instance, he had resigned from Congress in 1984 in protest against the army attack launched by the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi on the holiest Sikh shrine Sri Harmandar Sahib and highest Sikh temporal seat Akal Takht Sahib. Now, he pays tribute to Gandhi every year by getting big advertisements published in the newspapers.
