The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Tuesday took strong objection to the decision of the BJP-led Central government to exclude Punjab government representatives from the government’s Committee on MSP.
In a statement, Chadha said that it is not only unfair to exclude Punjab, but also violates principles of federalism."The BJP government has deliberately excluded Punjab because the state which took the lead in opposing the three farm bills and had coerced the BJP government to constitute this committee," he said.
The Union government set up the committee on Monday to address farm issues like diversification of agriculture and natural farming as also to work out suitable mechanism for MSP. But, no one from Punjab figures on the list. The announcement of this committee was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November last year, following protests by the farmers' Unions against three draconian farm bills.
MP Raghav Chadha said that it shows the anti-farmers and anti-Punjab policies of the BJP government. Most of the members of the committee are those who supported the Union government during protests against the anti-farm laws, he pointed out.
Chadha said, "The Central Government's Committee on MSP, which excludes a major agricultural state like Punjab, is the latest example of the BJP's cynical and short-sighted moves. By deliberately excluding Punjab, the Central Government has insulted our people."
"Punjab as the birth-place of the Green Revolution and the food bowl of India, has not been allowed to have governmental representation, while bureaucrats from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha have all been given spots in this 26-member committee, " Chadha said in a tweet.
He said that continuing the terrible legacy of the farm laws that forced Punjab's farmers to hit the streets and sacrifice lives, the BJP chose (i) Guni Prakash who supported BJP CM Khattar's call for violence against agitating farmers. (ii) Gunwant Patil who was endorsing how the farm laws are revolutionary while Punjab's farmers tolerated the biting cold and continued their protest and (iii) Sayyed Pasha Patel, a BJP politician from Latur. But Punjab has been kept outside the door.