December 16, 2020 4:46:23 am
On agricultural laws, Badal said: “These laws have been made by those who have never cultivated.”
One day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused opposition parties of “tricking” farmers and “shooting from their shoulders,” former BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal called the party “the real tukde gang. tukde in the country today “and accused of trying to pit Hindus against Sikhs in Punjab.
Addressing the media in Bathinda, where some AAP and BJP workers were inducted into the party, Akali Dal Chairman Sukhbir Singh Badal said: “If one speaks in favor of the central government, it is called ‘desh bhakt ( patriot) ‘and if he speaks out, they call him a’ tukde tukde gang, ‘”Badal said, adding:“ The BJP is so desperate for power that they have no qualms about taking the communal route and setting the country on fire. The BJP first turned the Hindus against the Muslims. Now, he is determined to play the same evil game again and recreate the same tragedy in Punjab. “
He repeated his charge in a tweet on Tuesday, saying, “BJP is the real #TukdeTukdeGang in the country. He has shattered national unity, blatantly inciting Hindus against Muslims and now desperately turning peace-loving Punjabi Hindus against their Sikh brethren, especially farmers. They are pushing the patriotic Punjab into communal flames. “
Akali Dal had left the National Democratic Alliance because of the new agricultural laws. Sukhbir’s wife and Bathinda’s deputy, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had also resigned as Union minister.
Regarding agricultural laws, Badal said, “these laws have been made by those who have never cultivated.”
Saying that the entire country, “except the BJP,” recognizes the debt we owe to our “patriotic peasants and soldiers,” he added, “The BJP is causing people to deny the peasants their due. He is so ungrateful to the farmers that he is painting them as anti-nationals. Today it is the peasants … Tomorrow, if it suits them, who knows what the BJP will say about our soldiers?
Later, in a statement issued from the party’s Chandigarh headquarters, Sukhbir said: “SAD considers it its national duty to warn compatriots against the desperate and destructive game plan of the BJP in Punjab.”
At the Singhu borders of Delhi, farmers toughened their stance, saying they will “make” the government repeal these laws and stating that their fight has reached a stage where they are “determined” to win, no matter what.
They announced that they would completely block the Chilla border between Delhi and Noida on Wednesday to lobby for their demands, adding that farmers’ unions are not escaping from negotiations, but that the government must come up with concrete proposals.
At a press conference on the Singhu border, farmer leader Jagjeet Singh Dallewal said: “The government is saying ‘we will not repeal these laws’, we are saying we will force it to do so.”
The farmers’ unions also announced that they would organize a nationwide ‘shraddhanjali’ for all the farmers who died during the current protests.
Gurnam Singh Chaduni, head of the Bhartiya Kisan Union’s Haryana state, said that around 14 farmers have been killed so far, either during the protests or while on their way to the protest sites.
Those who coordinated the protests confirmed the death in Singhu on Tuesday of Gurmeet Singh, 67, a farmer from Kandala village in the Mohali district of Punjab.
With ENS, New Delhi
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