Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, in his tenth month of rule in the state, not only strangulated democracy but also officially endorsed his betrayal with the farmers. This was stated here today by Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Harjit Singh Grewal and state party secretary Vineet Joshi who were releasing a report card on Capt. Amarinder Singh’s 10th month in office. The state BJP has been continuously commenting on the functioning of the Congress government every month.The BJP leaders said that Capt. Amarinder Singh strangulated democracy by misusing the state machinery, especially Punjab police, during Municipal elections. “He betrayed the farmers too. On January 7 in Mansa, the Chief Minister confirmed his U-turn on full farm loan waiver. Distraught over being deceived, Six farmers committed suicide the next day. During his 10 months’ rule, 368 farmers have committed suicide so far; and, if Capt. Amarinder Singh fails to wake up to reality, Punjab will turn into a graveyard for the farmers”, they said.
Stating that the chief minster spoke a blatant lie in Mansa by putting up signboards of ‘Jo Kaha, Wo Kiya’, Grewal said, “He had promised a full farm loan waiver, Rs. 10 Lakh compensation for family of farmers committing suicide, Rs. 20,000 per acre compensation in case of natural calamity, free education and hostel facility for the children of suicide victims and skill development of their widows; and Rs. 5 lakh life and health insurance of every farmer, but has done nothing till now”. Touching the issue of dalits, Joshi said, “Captain had promised a loan waiver of Rs. 50,000 for the dalits, houses for homeless dalits, job for each dalit household, free education till graduation, reserving a 10 percent quota in all private educational institutions, 300 units of free electricity, increasing the monetary benefit under Shagun shceme to Rs. 51,000, clearing the job backlog and providing reservation to dalits in Corporations, Trusts, Boards etc., but all these promises yet remain to be fulfilled”.Continuing the tirade, the state BJP secretary Joshi said, “The Chief Minister tried to deceive the public by showing that private colleges are providing jobs to unemployed youth under his Ghar-Ghar Naukri plank.
However, what he didn’t realize is that the colleges have been doing so since many years by organizing employment fairs. Smartphones have not been provided to the youth despite making a provision in the budget. The government also is taking a U-turn over the Rs. 2500 unemployment allowance for the unemployed. Women were promised a reservation of 33 percent in government jobs, help centers were to be opened up in every district for victims of domestic violence, but nothing has changed on ground”. He further said, “Industry is still awaiting electricity at the rate of Rs. 5 per unit, elderly are awaiting pension, and women are waiting for sugar and tea along with atta and dal. Leave aside fulfilling its promise of providing a pension or Rs. 1500 per month to elderly, widows and the specially-abled, the Congress is not even doling out Rs. 500 per month pension to about 19 lakh beneficiaries of the state”. On the issue of drugs, Joshi said, “Capt. Amarinder Singh’s claim of weeding out drugs and controlling the gangsters have fallen flat after his own MLA, Surjit Singh Dhiman stated that drugs were easily available in every street of Punjab”.