Chandigarh: Congress in Punjab on Tuesday demanded
immediate release of farmers arrested for allegedly defaulting
on loan repayment in the state saying the step may prompt more
farmers to commit suicides.
"It has exposed the anti-farmer face of SAD-BJP
government. This action is a blatant violation of even the
election manifesto of the Shiromani Akali Dal and will lead to
aggravate social tension in rural areas," state Congress
President Mohinder Singh Kaypee said in a statement said here.
Demanding their immediate release, he said the recent
arrest of six farmers in Jalalabad area in Ferozepur district,
the constituency represented by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir
Singh Badal, was the beginning of the crackdown on poor
peasants.
Noting that Badal had always projected himself as a
sympathiser of farmers by often talking in favour of
subsidising.
He said Badal himself had all along been maintaining that
farming in Punjab was not a viable proposition and there was
need for subsidising agriculture.
However, this action by the administration clearly shows
the huge gap between his words and deeds, Kaypee said.
He expressed apprehensions that such actions of the state
government might result in more suicides by farmers.
PTI
