Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh called his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal “this crafty little one” as the two traded positions over the notification of one of the three new central agricultural laws in the national capital.
A day earlier, Punjab’s chief minister had criticized Party leader Aam Aadmi (AAP) for the November 23 notice in Delhi, accusing the party of simply pretending to support the cause of farmers.
At a press conference in Delhi on Wednesday, Kejriwal responded, but that prompted the publication of another press release by the congressional veteran in Chandigarh.
Kejriwal’s AAP is the main opposition in Punjab, run by Congress, where farmers are now camping outside Delhi in a major protest against the Center’s agricultural marketing laws.
Amarinder Singh dismissed Kejriwal’s claim that states are defenseless against central legislation, saying it was clear that the AAP leader did not even want to try to fight the draconian laws. He accused Kejriwal of undermining the farmers’ struggle by notifying one of the laws and recalled that the Punjab Assembly had passed its own bills in an attempt to deny them.
“Rather than just meekly notify the core laws, Kejriwal could have tried to make some effort to counter them and protect the rights of farmers,” said Punjab’s chief minister. “Clearly this crafty little one, whose double standards have been exposed time and again, is now completely cornered on the issue.”
In his earlier briefing, Kejriwal had accused the Punjab CM of playing “dirty politics” and suggested that it was under pressure from central agencies.
“I want to ask Captain Saheb, are you under pressure from these same people for what you are making these false accusations against me, abusing me? I know that the reason may be that your family is accused of cases and receiving notices from the emergency department, “he said.
The three farm laws were implemented across the country with the president’s signature and no state can stop them, he said.
“If the implementation of the laws depended on the states, why would farmers from all over the country come to Delhi to speak with the Center and present their demands? They would have presented their demands in front of their top ministers,” he said.
He accused the Punjab CM of not trying to stop agricultural bills when given the opportunity. “Captain saheb had many opportunities to stop the agricultural bills. Why did he not act against these bills as a member of the central government committee that formulates and deliberates on these bills?” Kejriwal asked.
“Is this captain saheb’s friendship with the BJP or is he under pressure so he is making false accusations against me?” I ask. Kejriwal also said that his AAP government had angered the BJP government in the Center by refusing to give permission to convert the city’s stadiums into temporary prisons for protesting farmers.
Singh responded by saying that it was clear that Kejriwal, whose survival depended on the central government, was more concerned with enraging it than with the plight of the farmers. He called Kejriwal’s latest comments, including a call for the Center to address farmers’ concerns, as mere nonsense and said the AAP leader’s actions had exposed the emptiness of his comments.
Kejriwal is clearly only playing on farmers’ sentiments now because his party has completely lost the political narrative in Punjab, he charged. The Delhi government notified on November 23, 2020 the Agricultural Products Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Act.
Thousands of farmers, most of them from Punjab, are camped on the Delhi border demanding the repeal of the central laws. The farmers’ union’s claim that the new laws will lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, which the Center denies.
The Narendra Modi government says the laws give farmers more options to sell their crops, obtaining better prices for them.
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