Amarinder Singh said that Punjab was heading towards a financial emergency

Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the promise the PM made to Punjabi farmers in Gujarat during a public rally in Jagraon about a year ago.

He also condemned Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for his silence and for forgetting the plight of the Punjabi farmers who are being hounded out of Gujarat by force and intimidation.

In a statement issued on Friday, Amarinder said: “What to speak of the Gujarat government withdrawing the appeal from the Supreme Court of India against the Gujarat High Court order that was in favour of the Punjabi farmers, they are now being hounded out through force and intimidation.”

The former chief minister referred to the January 25 incident in the Bhuj area of Gujarat, where Punjabi farmers was attacked by locals and the land mafia.

Moreover, the police booked the victim for the incident instead of taking action against the attackers.

Amarinder said that Modi, during his Jagraon rally, had promised that his government will not press on with the appeal in the Supreme Court.

The Captain disclosed that not only has the appeal not been withdrawn, but the farmers’ accounts also remain frozen.

He said the Gujarat government had already created conditions to compel the farmers to flee. When the Punjabi farmers tried to stand their ground, locals with the backing of mafia, goons and police are physically intimidating them to ensure that they leave.

Fiscal emergency

Reacting to Amarinder Singh’s statement made on Thursday regarding fiscal emergency in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday said that the Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar must first try to set his party in order rather than worrying about issues of governance.

Singh condemned Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal (pictured) for his silence

Badal said: “Before issuing such baseless statements, Amarinder and state Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa must try and stop the ongoing infighting in their party. Healthy criticism by the Opposition is always welcome but criticising just for the sake of it is undesirable and unwarranted.”

He also called upon the entire Opposition to play a constructive role in making Punjab a frontrunner state in the country.

He said: “Congress has always adopted an anti-Punjab stance due to which its development has suffered. Punjab’s economy was adversely affected due to Partition of the country and prolonged militancy. However, industries shifted out of the state after the Congress granted incentives to neighbouring states that hurt the state economy.”

Badal said that he will soon meet Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for release of the pending Rs 400 crore, sanctioned by the 13th Finance Commission.

Saying that diversification of agriculture was the need of the hour, Badal said that the funds were needed for bailing out the farmers from the current agrarian crisis.