Capt hopes Centre would back off & help farmers

“Maybe the distressing visuals of tens of hundreds of farmers out on the roads at hundreds of locations in Punjab, and in several other states, will touch the hearts of the central leadership,” the Chief Minister hoped. “Perhaps the BJP will now realise its folly,” he added.

Reiterating his commitment to fight the laws till his last breath, Amarinder also urged the President not to give his assent to the Bills, “which were crafted to destroy not just the economy of Punjab and the food security of the nation but also the lives of lakhs of farmers and their families, as well as those dependent on the agricultural food chain for their livelihood”.

“Farmers are the backbone of our society & the recent farmer Bills passed by the Union government are a step in the wrong direction. It’s time we all stand for what’s right. Together let’s impress upon the Centre to pull back these Anti-Farmer bills,” he said in a tweet.

The Bills, if implemented, will have devastating effects for the border state of Punjab, as well as for the entire nation, he warned, charging the Centre with ignoring the farmers’ concerns to promote the interests of their capitalist cronies.

The Chief Minister said his government, along with the Punjab Congress, will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the farmers to oppose the Bills, and will take whatever steps needed, including moving the courts, to scuttle the Centre’s attempt to demolish the state’s well-established farming network.

Amarinder also lashed out at the Akalis for their public posturing on the Bills, which even the farmers had dismissed as crocodile tears. He said the Akali double standards had been totally exposed by the fact that they continued to be a part of the anti-farmer ruling coalition at the Centre and had, till date, refused to even come out with any public criticism of the Union government.