CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Saturday that he will not speak with his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar until he requests an apology for “inflicting brutality” on farmers marching to Delhi.
Punjab’s chief minister also dismissed allegations that he did not speak to Khattar on the farmers issue despite repeated attempts by Haryana CM, according to a statement.
“Khattar is lying that he tried to call me before and I didn’t answer. But now, after what he’s done to my farmers, I’m not going to talk to him even if he calls me 10 times. Unless he apologizes and admits that he did wrong to the Punjab farmers, I will not forgive him, ”Singh said, apologizing to the Haryana CM for“ inflicting brutality ”on the farmers.
The reaction from the Punjab CM came after Khattar alleged on Saturday that despite wanting to speak to him about the issue, he did not respond even when phone calls were made to his office for three days.
Citing a “conspiracy”, Khattar told reporters in Gurgaon that officials from Punjab’s Chief Minister’s Office are “giving instructions” to protesting Punjab farmers.
Earlier, Khattar had accused the Punjab CM of “only tweeting and running away from conversations” with him on the matter.
Amarinder Singh said there was no way he would speak to Khattar again – “neighbor or no neighbor” – after Haryana used water cannons and tear gas cannons against farmers.
Singh said that if he could speak to the prime minister and the Union interior minister so many times on the issue of farmers, why would he not have taken calls from a neighboring prime minister if he had actually called earlier?
Questioning Khattar’s decision not to allow farmers to go peacefully to the national capital, Amarinder Singh demanded to know “who is Khattar to intervene? What business does he have in interfering in this whole affair?
Amarinder Singh also criticized Haryana CM for making “unfounded” accusations that it is instigating farmers.
“I am a nationalist to the core. I run a border state and will never do anything to create a public order problem of any kind, “he said.
For 60 days, farmers blocked Punjab’s train tracks, causing losses of more than Rs 43 billion to the state.
“I will not accept this nonsense from Khattar. Don’t I have better things to do than incite farmers? I ask.
“Sometimes they say that it is the Khalistanis who are running the protests and other times they accuse me of doing it… let them make a decision,” said Amarinder Singh.
The CM declared that no political party was involved in the peasant protests, which were a spontaneous reaction of peasants fighting for their future, according to the statement.
Regretting Khattar’s allegations that farmers were creating public order problems, the CM said that Punjabis are law-abiding citizens and that it is Haryana that is “damaging” public property and blocking roads to detain farmers. .
Amarider Singh, calling Khattar’s claim that farmers from Haryana are not part of the “Delhi Chalo” turmoil as “ridiculous”, said intelligence from Punjab showed that between 40,000 and 50,000 farmers from the neighboring state have joined the march to the national capital, that even the intelligence reports of the Center have been confirmed.
“He (Khattar) doesn’t know what’s going on in his own state and he’s telling me what to do in my state,” Amarinder joked.
The Punjab CM said that farmers had announced their decision to go to Delhi several days ago, even before lifting the railway blockade.
Farmers are angered by farm laws, which seek to destroy a well-proven and successful 100-year-old system of mandis and arhtiyas (commissioned agents), he said.
Claiming that no one was preventing corporate houses from entering the agricultural marketing system, the CM said that even now they are acquiring and running businesses in Punjab.
They can do this while continuing with the existing system, the two can work in parallel, he added.
The CM said he also wanted the matter resolved and the confrontation ended and that he will do what he can to help resolve the issue.
He was willing to back any attempt by the Center to end this mess, he said, adding that the Center has to talk to farmers and find a solution.
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