Punjab Congress president and Gurdaspur nominee Sunil Jakhar has lashed out at the Modi government for its anti-farmers policies, saying its decision to impose GST on agricultural tools and other similar measures had further broken the backbone of the beleaguered farmers of the state.
Addressing a series of worker meetings here here on Tuesday, Jakhar said while the Badal government had destroyed the lives of farmers in the state by failing to pay a single penny to them, the Modi government had aggravated their woes with its anti-farmer and anti-poor policies. He also flayed Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for imposing GST even on wheat flour, terming the step as anti-poor. The Modi government, said Jakhar, was only interested in promoting the interests of corporates.The Akalis failed to approach the central government for waiver of farm loans, he pointed out, adding that the Captain Amarinder government had always worked to safeguard the interests of the Punjab farmers. He lauded the Chief Minister’s decision to waive off farm loans.The Capt Amarinder government is also working to make agriculture remunerative in order to bring the farmers out of the agrarian crisis, said the PPCC president. It is extremely unfortunate that for almost a decade, under the Akali Raj, farmers did not get the due price for their produce nor was there smooth procurement of wheat and paddy.
Referring to the SYL issue, Jakhar said it was Capt Amarinder who brought the Punjab Termination of Water Agreements Act, 2004 and later also took a strong stand against allowing even a single drop of Punjab’s waters to go out of the state.Apart from GST, which he said had caused immense hardship to the business and trading community apart from other sections of the society, the PPCC president also hit out at the central government on the issue of demonetisation which had derailed the country’s economy.“No one gained from demonetization. Around 200 lives were lost because of this ill-conceived decision and reports suggest that the impact of demonetization will continue for three more years,” said Jakhar, adding that the Narendra Modi-Arun Jaitley duo was answerable to the people.Pointing out that Rs 16 lakh crore had come back into the banks though Rs 15 lakh crore was in circulation, Jakhar said this implied that counterfeit currency had also been accepted. He demanded to know the central government’s stand on the issue of “Black Money” and fake currency now.
Jakhar further said the Modi government had failed to implement its promise to provide 2 crore jobs, with the employment exchange data revealing that every month 10 lakh unemployed youth are getting themselves registered, which means 1.2 crore annually. In contrast, an average of a mere 1.5 lakh jobs has been provided in the past 3 years, he added.Taunting Modi over his ‘56 inch ka seena’ remark, Jakhar said the BJP government had badly failed to stop infiltration from across the border. Everyday our jawans are being martyred while a jumblebaaz and feku government is running this country, he added.Jakhar also criticised the Modi government for the growing atrocities against the Dalit community, contrasting it with the welfare initiatives taken for the community by the erstwhile Dr Mnamohan Singh.Asserting that Capt Amarinder government had already taken a series of initiatives for the all round development of the state, Jakhar said that in the next four and half years, the glorious days of the Punjab would be back.Jakhar called upon the people to vote the Congress to power in Gurdaspur and discard a candidate like BJP’s Sarwan Salaria.Punjab Cabinet Minister Brahm Mohindra, MLA Raj Kumar Chabbewal and PPCC General Secretary Vinay Mahajan attended the meetings.