Sukhbir Badal asks party men to oppose Cong govt move to sell off land of indebted farmers
Sukhbir Badal asks party men to oppose Cong govt move to sell off land of indebted farmers Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today directed the party rank and file to vehemently oppose any attempt by the Congress government to sell off land of thousands of indebted farmers by initiating kurki proceedings against them, saying this cruel and inhuman act would not be allowed to be implemented at any cost. In a statement here, the SAD president said it was shocking that after defaulting on implementation of its Rs 90,000 crore loan waiver promise, the Congress government had now started the process of persecuting farmers by deciding to sell off agriculture land of 12,635 indebted farmers across six districts to recover their debt. He said proceedings had also been launched against another 20,000 farmers. The SAD president said it was a matter of shame that Punjab Agriculture Development Bank (PADB) officials, who had initiated this exercise by arresting 28 farmers and procuring arrest warrants against 109 others, were applauding Cooperation minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for leading this drive. “Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is honor bound to tell Punjabis why he has allowed his Cooperation minister to re-start Kurki proceedings in Punjab after a gap of 30 years. The CM admitted in the Vidhan Sabha that kurki proceedings had been discontinued against farmers since 1986. The Congress government also took a cabinet decision not to implement recovery proceedings against the peasantry. However the Cooperation department is openly resorting to recovery proceedings against small farmers exposing the double faced nature of this deceitful government which has even violated the sanctity of its own cabinet”, he added. Stating that more than 500 farmers had already committed suicide, Mr Badal said the latest action would lead to further despondency and increase the suicide rate in the State. He said small farmers with loans between Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh who had been promised relief from all loans be it from nationalized or cooperative banks or private money lenders, would be most hit. “These are also the same farmers who had been wooed with slogans of ‘karja kurki khatam fasal ki poori rakam’ by the Congress party’ prior to the assembly elections”, he added. Asking the party rank and file to protect the interests of indebted farmers, the SAD president said party men should rush to the rescue of any farmer subjected to recovery proceedings by the Congress government. He said the party would also stand by Dalits and khet mazdor facing kurki proceedings because the Congress government had failed to come to their aid and waive off their debts. We will not allow the Congress government to go back on the promises made to the farming community”, he added.
