Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
September 14
Categorically rejecting the Centre’s claim that Punjab was taken on board before the promulgation of the anti-farmer Ordinances presented in Parliament on Monday, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday urged the Prime Minister not to go ahead with their legislation and also announced that he will lead an 11-member delegation of his party on Wednesday to submit a memorandum to the Governor against the dangerous Ordinances.
Besides the Chief Minister, the delegation will include Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar along with some ministers and MLAs of the party, an official spokesperson said.
The decision to meet the Governor came after the BJP-led central government presented the three controversial Ordinances in Parliament for legislation despite strong protests by farmers in various states, including Punjab. The Chief Minister also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him not to pursue the Ordinances and also to make MSP a statutory right of the farmers. He urged the Prime Minister not to disappoint the people and farmers of Punjab and favourably consider their request not to go ahead with the Ordinances, which are not in the interest of the farmers.
Meanwhile, asserting that his government had been consistently opposing the so-called reforms brought in by the Ordinances, the Chief Minister said, in a statement, that at no point did Punjab endorse any such move, contrary to what was being projected by the central government. In fact, the Ordinances were not discussed even once at the sole meeting of the high-powered committee held after Punjab was made a member, he added.
Reacting to the statement made in Parliament today by Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Raosaheb Patil Danve, that the high-powered committee on agriculture had decided on the Ordinances after due consideration by all member states, Amarinder termed it as irresponsible since Punjab never supported any such move, nor was it consulted before the promulgation of the Ordinances.
The clandestine manner in which the Ordinances were introduced clearly showed that the central government had no intention of protecting the interests of the farmers but was bent on implementing the report of the Shanta Kumar committee, which had recommended the gradual withdrawal of MSP and dismantling of FCI, said the Chief Minister.
The Ordinances are not acceptable to Punjab, said Amarinder, adding that these are also anti-federal as agriculture is a state subject.
