Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Modi too has betrayed Punjab
Chandigarh, August 17: People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal today called upon Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to publicly admit that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ditched Punjab before urging him to undo the discrimination meted out to the state over the years.
“The Chief Minister need not be reminded that he had pinned high hopes on Modi as the Akali Dal had all along been blaming the Congress for injustice done to Punjab. However, during the last 15 months, one can’t list even a single major decision taken by the Modi government to favour this beleaguered state. Even the discrimination that was done to Punjab by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government by way of leaving out the state while announcing industrial concessions for the neighbouring states that hit Punjab hard has not been undone. But then the Union Minister of State for Industries at that time was Sukhbir Singh Badal”, he added.
Manpreet pointed out that the Akali Dal for years has been talking of the great sacrifices by the Punjabis for the freedom of the country but the state continued to be discriminated against at every level. He said none would question it but the issue was what was the difference between the Congress and the BJP in case the Chief Minister, even after 15 months of the formation of the new government at the centre, had to plead with Modi to reverse all wrongs done to the state during the last 40 years.
He said at the time when the credibility and popularity of the Akali Dal-BJP government in the state was all time low, Chief Minister Badal was trying to pass the buck for everything that is wrong in Punjab, including the failure to provide transparent and good governance.
He recalled that both the Akali Dal and Modi himself had made a commitment with the farmers to implement the Swaminathan Committee report on fixing the minimum support prices of crops ensuring 50 per cent profit over and above the cost of production. However, this was the first promise from which the Modi government backtracked.
He said in case the discrimination was continuing with Punjab, the Chief Minister must elaborate on the role of Akali Dal’s cabinet minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal in the Modi government.
