Modi govt punishing farmers for SAD-BJP differences: Bir Devinder
Friday, 07/11/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20141107/punjab.htm#7
Chandigarh : Former Deputy Speaker Bir Devinder Singh today said the bitter discord between two alliance partners of the NDA-the SAD and the BJP-was adversely affecting farmers of Punjab.
It was preposterous that the Centre was cynically withholding the release of second instalment of cash credit limit (CCL) worth Rs 10,000 crores, which was urgently needed to clear payments of paddy growers and commission agents in the state, he said.
It was deplorable that no payment had been made to the farmers in Punjab for the past two weeks, thus putting the farmers in hardship.
Paradoxically, the infighting between the SAD and the BJP had reached a crescendo. "Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal owes an explanation and apology to the people for misleading them on the leadership of Narendra Modi, whose government is now hell bent on victimising Punjab farmers for no fault of theirs," Bir Devinder said.
The UPA government at the Centre had never shown such callousness towards Punjab farmers over the past 10 years. Dr Manmohan Singh had been gracious in accommodating Punjab. Despite that, Parkash Singh Badal had been rhetorically accusing him (Manmohan Singh) of bias against Punjab.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seemed hell bent on avenging his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar by freezing all legitimate fiscal assistance to Punjab. It's a sinister conspiracy of the BJP hatched by Modi-Jaitley-Amit Shah trio to starve Punjab by all means, despite the fact that Punjab alone had been contributing more than 50 per cent to the food basket of the country, thus making the nation self-sufficient in its requirement of food grains, said the Congress leader.
