Punjab School Education and Public Works Minister Mr. Vijay Inder Singla, on Sunday, called on Arthiyas of Patiala, Samana and Rajpura to express solidarity with them against the vindictive raids carried out by the Income Tax Department in an unlawful manner.A day after he met with the income tax raid victims Arthiyas, including the Punjab President Mr. Vijay Kalra, the Cabinet Minister Mr. Singla, while meeting Samana Anaj Mandi Arthiyas President Mr. Pawan Kumar Goyal, Patiala District Arthiyas President Mr. Jaswinder Singh Rana, Rajpura President Mr. Hardeep Singh Lada, Kartar Singh and Amrik Singh, said that the raids being carried out on Arthiyas across Punjab at the behest of the Union Government to weaken the farmer protest and it will not succeed to end the generations long relationship between the farmers and arthiyas.Strongly criticizing income tax raids and terming it a pressure tactic, Mr. Singla assured that the state government and the Punjab Congress stood with them in this hour of need.
The Cabinet Minister said that horrifying from farmers’ protest at its peak, the union government is using these ploys to scatter the allied communities. First of all, the union government has adopted the manoeuvre of meetings, then threats to evict farmers but they failed miserably. Now, the acts of intimidation against arthiyas, who stood with farmers, have been taken, but they will not succeed to dampen the spirit of Punjab."Those farmers, who didn't stop with the all sorts of barriers erected by the BJP governments on the way to Delhi, could not be afraid with these political tactics" said the cabinet minister, adding that the decades long relationship between farmers and arthiyas can't be broken. He said that today, the Arthiyas are standing on the Delhi border to help the farmers in every possible way and if the Union Government has the misconception that it will weaken and scatter the movement by threatening Arthiyas, they should correct themselves. I am trying to meet every affected Arthiyas to show solidarity with them, he added.