Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
* Badal failed to raise the issue of dislocated Punjabi farmers of Kutch: Bajwa
Chandigarh, The Punjab Congress President, Mr Partap Singh Badal, today lambasted the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, for continuing to deliberately mislead the people by alleging discrimination by the UPA government despite the fact that the Union Finance Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, had debunked this malicious and mischievous campaign in his letter to the state government rejecting the demand for a special package.
Reacting strongly to the continuing propaganda by Mr Badal on this non-existent issue, he said Mr Jaitley had quoted facts and figures in his letter that Punjab had been receiving financial assistance over and above its share under the UPA regime.
“It does not behove the leader of your stature who has become the Chief Minister for the fifth time to continue with the baseless charade. It seems the only legacy you will leave behind would be of politics based on untruths and blatant lies, thereby harming the interests of Punjab in the longer run. Communal harmony is not your contribution. It was then chief minister Mr Beant Singh who had brought peace to the troubled state while leaders like you had been supporting the demands of the radicals and you had gone to the extent of signing a memorandum submitted to the UN demanding Khalistan. You have no moral right to stake such claims”, he said.
He took Mr Badal to task for his refrain holding the UPA responsible for the industrial backwardness of the state resulting from the concessions given to the neighbouring states. He called upon Mr Badal to have the moral courage to admit that these concessions were announced by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government in March 2002, in which Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, was a senior Minister and S. Sukhbir Singh Badal was member of Rajya Sabha during 2001 to 2004. Did he record his opposition at that time, Mr Badal must explain. Instead he is blaming the UPA for this by telling complete lies to people of Punjab.
The fortunes of Punjab started declining after the then Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee visit to Uttranchal and Himachal Pradesh during March 29 and 31, 2002, where he announced tax and central excise concessions to attract investments to special category states. 18700 industrial units have shut down in Punjab and rendered about 10 lakh people jobless.
The PPCC chief asserted that it was now the NDA government in which Mr Badal’s daughter-in-law Mrs Harsimrat Kaur Badal was the cabinet minister which had dealt a serious blow to the state by rejecting the demand for a special package within weeks. The UPA had never meted out such humiliating treatment to the Punjab government. He recalled that the then Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had never turned down any demand for financial assistance by the Badal government and this was too well known to all. He challenged Mr Badal to cite even a single instance where the UPA had done any discrimination to the Punjab government.
S. Bajwa said that during meeting with Sh. Modi, Mr Badal had not even raised the long pending issue of 15000 Punjabi farmers who have been dislocated by the Gujarat Government. He also never raised the issue of 3200 rice mills in Punjab which are on the verge of closure due to tough specifications and reduced shelling time by GoI. This will very adversely affect the farmers as well.
S. Bajwa demanded that Mr Badal should waive off farmers’ loan of the Cooperative Banks with the support of Centre Government on line with waiver of Rs 70000 cr loan of farmers by UPA in 2009.
