Captain Singh said today that the BJP is trying to undermine peaceful unrest (Archive)
Chandigarh:
Reacting forcefully to Governor Singh Badnore’s vice president’s summons to top Punjab officials for the vandalism of the mobile towers last month, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday accused the BJP of dragging the constitutional office onto its “agenda unpleasant”. Amarinder Singh said the governor has “bowed” to the party’s propaganda on state law and order. “Call me, not my officers if you want clarification,” the Chief Minister said in a statement.
Captain Singh, who looks after the state’s housing portfolio, said the BJP, by raising questions about the state’s law and order, is trying to divert attention from protests against the three controversial farm laws.
“While the BJP’s propaganda about the collapse of law and order in the state was nothing more than a tactic to divert attention from the issue of farm laws and the ensuing agitation of farmers, if the governor nonetheless had any concerns about the situation, should “I have addressed the matter directly with me as custodian of the housing portfolio,” he said in a Punjab government statement.
“At a time when the very existence of our farmers is at stake, the BJP leaders are busy indulging in petty politics and also dragging the governor’s constitutional office on their ugly agenda,” he added.
Hundreds of mobile towers in Punjab, mostly belonging to Reliance Jio, were taken out of service last month, allegedly by farmers protesting against the center’s agricultural laws. Captain Singh had issued a stern warning about the incident and had asked the police to take action against those responsible.
Captain Singh said today that the BJP is trying to undermine the peaceful agitation against the laws by calling “some minor incidents of damage to some mobile towers as a public order problem.”
“These damaged towers can be and are being repaired, but what about the lives of farmers lost in the freezing cold on the borders of Delhi where they continue to fight for their rights amid total apathy from the BJP-led government in the middle?” I ask.
Farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting the laws for weeks in and around the national capital. They fear that the laws will phase out traditional crop markets and the minimum support price guarantee and make them susceptible to exploitation by big business.
The protesting farmers have targeted some Punjab BJP leaders in recent weeks to lobby for their demand to repeal the laws.
On Friday, a tractor cart carrying cow manure was unloaded in front of the home of a BJP leader in Hoshiarpur, Punjab.
Last month, a group of BJP leaders in Punjab’s Phagwara had to sneak out the back door under police protection after protesting farmers picketed a hotel where they were holding an event.
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