Eyeing to woo rural Sikh masses in Panthic heartland, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BKP) organised its maiden political conference at Baba Bakala on the occasion of Rakhar Punia festival, with Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan detailing the central government’s efforts toward farmers’ welfare.
The trade agreements signed with the UK and European countries have fully safeguarded farmers’ rights. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly made it clear that the nation comes first and farmers’ well-being is paramount.”
Highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to ensuring farmers’ rights, Chouhan said there had been no trade deal with the United States so far, so how did the question of compromising farmers’ interests even arise? Chouhan said, “Whether with America or any other country in the world, every agreement will be made keeping farmers’ interests in mind.
The saffron party’s show of strength was also attended by Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, BJP national vice-president Manpreet Singh Badal, former Union railway minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, Rajya Sabha MPs Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Tarun Chugh, and former Punjab BJP presidents Sunil Jakhar, Ashwani Sharma and Vijay Sampla. Similarly, all canal and watercourse works currently being undertaken in Punjab were central government projects, he added. Chouhan claimed that the Punjab government took three months merely to send the list of people whose houses had collapsed in the floods.
Chouhan said during the 12-year tenure of the Modi government, approximately ₹ 8.20 lakh crore had been released for the procurement of wheat and paddy from Punjab farmers at MSP. When a list of 24,000 houses was finally submitted, the Centre released funds under the PM Awas Yojana, but these houses were never provided to the needy.
Hitting out at AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Chouhan said they should answer what they have done for the state’s farmers.
