अपना पंजाब वेब न्यूज़: पंजाब के पूर्व मंत्री नवजोत सिद्धू नए कृषि विधेयक के विरुद्ध संघर्ष कर रहे किसानों के पक्ष में मैदान में उतर आए हैं। उन्होंने अमृतसर में सड़क पर उतरकर विरोध प्रदर्शन किया। सिद्धू पुराने और नए शहर को जोड़ने वाले भंडारी पुल पर किसानों का समर्थन करने आए।
उनके साथ उनकी विधानसभा क्षेत्र पूर्वी के समर्थक पार्षद व कार्यकर्ता भी हैं। काफी संख्या में किसान भी धरना स्थल पर पहुंच गए हैं। बता दें कि सिद्धू मंत्रिमंडल से इस्तीफा देने के बाद डेढ़ साल से राजनीतिक वनवास झेल रहे हैं। ऐसे में सिद्धू के लिए किसान आंदोलन मौका भी है, दस्तूर भी है, जैसी स्थिति लेकर आया है।
Punjab: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu joins party protest in Amritsar in support of farmers who are demonstrating against the passage of agriculture reform bills in the Parliament. pic.twitter.com/UrKL71UIUu
— ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2020
Congress MLA and former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday took to the streets of Amritsar against the farm bills.
Among several slogans raised by the former minister’s supporters, “aa gaya Sidhu, Chha gaya Sidhu”, “Sidhu teri balle balle..baaki saare thale thale”, and “Sidhu teri soch te…pehra diyange thok ke” stood out the most.
Sidhu’s cavalcade conducted a massive “rosh march” from Bhandari Bridge to the Hill Gate—the centre of the Holy City, that connects the Wall City to the Civil Lines areas.
While addressing the gathering, Sidhu stressed, that he believed in “politics of solution”, and the people of Punjab would infuse their strength to ensure its implementation, be it against sand mining, cable or liquor mafia, and, now the “Kaala Kanoon” (black laws) enacted in the shape of farm bills.
“Kissan saada ‘Imaan’ hai…Saadi ‘gairat hai…‘pag’ hai ..te Saadi ‘pag’ nu ohna ne hath paya hai eh kanoon bana ke”. I have stepped out for farmers, and for the united cause of Punjab for which I will fight till my last breath. Above the party lines, 90 per cent MLAs opposed it. All Punjabis should unite against it”, he said.
He cautioned that the BJP-led Centre has another draconian bill in waiting, which is “Electricity Amendment (Draft) Act 2020”.
“Once it’s implemented, it will be the last nail in the coffin and destroy Punjab’s Agriculture model. The draft is already ready. Whenever they wish, they would implement it in no time”, he said.
He said, that the electricity amendment act would equip the Centre to have control over power regulation. Now, the control is with the PSPCL.
After this act, the whole control would shift to the Centre, and the biggest impact would be, that all power subsidies would be scrapped.
He said, that the Centre was replacing the “successful mandi model” with the “free market model”—which has failed in the US and Europe. He said, that it would impact the state’s revenue to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore per annum, that was incurred from mandis only.
“Where there are no mandis in states, the farmers faced worst conditions and were resorted to doing petty labour jobs The MSP, since 1980 was raised just by 15 times whereas the employees of all sectors got enhancement of more than 500 times during the same pan. It was through farmers’ that the Centre procure food grains for underprivileged people on subsidised rates and the farmers were being ruined”, he said.
The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill were passed in both houses of Parliament, amid protests by opposition parties.
The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was passed in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
“The ‘roti’ is the most essential commodity. How could it be shunted out of the essential commodities list?. Similarly, hoarding which has been legalised that would resort to food inflation”, he concluded.
