Akali leaders deserved the New York treatment: Farmers
Tuesday, 21/07/2015
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LUDHIANA: As shoes, stones and empty water bottles recently greeted a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation headed by Tota Singh, minister of agriculture and NRI affairs, in New York by several Sikh youngsters, farmers in the region too are mocking at them.
Talking to HT, they expressed that Punjabis settled across the world know that the condition of farmers in Punjab is pathetic, which is why they must have offered them an embarrassing reception.
“Social networking and media have played a major role in painting the real picture of farmers across the world. Everyone knows how stressed out the farmers in Punjab are. They are reeling under hard times and suicide rates among them have failed to come down. With passage of time, their issues have multiplied and the government seems to have ignored them. So, it is good that Sikh youth in the US showed them their anger, which they deserved,” said a group of farmers hailing from various pockets of the state during their visit to the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) on Monday.
“On foreign trips and on the annual world Kabaddi cup, the state government is always ready to spend lavishly, but when it comes to helping their very own farmers, they always prefer taking a backseat. In the wheat season that culminated recently, many farmers committed suicide in the wake of huge losses they suffered. Every day, there were reports of at least one or two suicide cases, that were shared by social networking websites’ users,” said Harpal Singh and Baljeet Singh, farmers from Jalandhar district. Manpreet Singh, a farmer from Patiala, added, “Got to know about the New York welcome. Most of us feel the Akalis deserved this welcome. Farmers in Punjab have been suffering under them and their policies. If we talk about Sangat Darshans, these have become platforms for the chief minsiter (CM) to issue statements against leaders opposing his party. No one is bothered about addressing issues of farmers who come to these darshans.”
“In June, the Central government played a cruel joke by increasing paddy’s MSP by just `50. How could this little increase help the farmers? This may be a result of languid follow-ups pertaining to Punjab farmers’ concerns by the state government with the Centre. Coming to the New York issue, I feel had they been caring for the farmers and the state in general, they would have never been given the welcome they faced,” said Surjeet Singh, a farmer from Amritsar.
Meanwhile, as for suicides by farmers, the state government has failed to conduct any fresh survey after March 2011. That survey was conducted jointly by three state universities.
