The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab termed the visits of Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal in the pink bollworm affected cotton belt as a mere drama. The AAP argued, “Badals, the creator of the whitefly, is morally talking about the pink bollworm of the Congress. Such dramas are like adding insult to the injury of the families of the victims; whose family members were forced to commit suicide in 2015 after seeing cotton crops destroyed by whitefly.”
In a statement issued from party headquarters here on Sunday, AAP MLA and Kisan Wing state president, Kultar Singh Sandhwan said, “Just as the bollworms are changing their appearance and damaging the crops, in the same way, the Congress, the BJP, and the Badals have done more harm to agriculture and farming than each other.”
Sandhwan said the farmers and no other sections can expect any good from the traditional parties like Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal Badal, and the BJP; because there is always a flaw in their minds and intentions. “Had their intentions and policies been clear, Punjab would have been made California in real sense. But these political parties left no stone unturned to ruin Punjab. For the last three decades, the power of Punjab has been occupied by Congress and the Badals. Being the political son of a five-time Chief Minister, will Sukhbir Singh Badal reveal who is really responsible for the crisis of farmers and farming and what steps did he take during his rule to get the farmers and agriculture out of the crisis?” asked Sandhwan.
Taking a dig, Sandhwan said Sukhbir Singh Badal standing in the cotton fields today and demanding compensation of Rs 1 lakh per acre should show the documentary records and tell the people how many farmers were compensated by their government per acre; who were hit by the whitefly attack in 2015? Also, what was the punishment given to the culprits of the whitefly scam? He questioned whether the messiah of the farmers is made only after being out of power?
The AAP leader also appealed to the farmers and the people of Punjab to keep all selfish politicians like the Badals out of power forever. Sandhwan said, on the one hand, Sukhbir Singh Badal is shedding crocodile tears in front of cotton crop farmers and on the other side, was rewarding Tota Singh and his son Barjinder Singh Makhan Brar, the masterminds of whitefly and pesticide scam with election tickets; so that they come up with some new blue bollworm or yellow fly in future.
Reacting to the opposition of the Badal family and other conventional leaders, Sandhwan said these politicians were now reaping what they had sown. He said the decades-old anger of the people against them was now erupting. These politicians themselves are responsible for such negative behavior, he added. The AAP leader further appealed to the people of Punjab and the farmers not to take the law into their hands under any circumstances and to vent their anger by voting against such selfish politicians.
Box
Channi should guarantee to deliver 100 percent compensation directly to affected farmers: Sandhwan
Kultar Singh Sandhwan has demanded 100 percent compensation from Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi for the loss of the cotton crop; as now a new crop cannot be sown and a complete loss of one crop has been done. Sandhwan said that today Channi himself has seen the loss due to pink bollworm infestation and has heard the pleas of the aggrieved farmers. “Therefore, Channi should take a guarantee to get the 100 percent compensation of loss of cotton crop in the bank account of each affected farmer; because earlier big irregularities have been coming to the fore in the distribution of compensation,” he added. Sandhwan urged Channi to provide high-quality pesticide-free of cost for the entire cotton belt. Apart from this, fearing that the cotton seeds and the pesticide used by the farmers were fake; he demanded an investigation in the matter.
