Punjab CM, Rahul vow to force Centre to revoke farm laws

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in pledging to force the Union government to revoke the 'draconian' farm laws.

Both said these laws would be debated in a special Vidhan Sabha session on Monday with the aim to aggressively and effectively combat the damaging impact of these legislations on farmers.

Asserting that his government will take all steps to counter the 'black' laws and protect the farmers of Punjab, Amarinder Singh said he would spend every single day of the rest of his life for the revival of Punjab.

"Whatever time I have left with me, I will fight for the farmers and every other section of the state's population," he said.

Condemning what he called the Centre's anti-farmer legislations that attacked the soul of every farmer and were an assault on Punjab's future, Amarinder Singh also announced his government's decision to give proprietary rights to those settled in 'Lal Dora' land in villages for long.

Welcoming the Chief Minister's decision to convene the special session, Rahul Gandhi said the voice of the farmers was gagged in Parliament, but it would now resonate in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and echo in every part of the country till the central government was compelled to withdraw the farm laws.

"If these laws were in the interest of the farmers, why did the BJP-led government at the Centre not allow a debate on them in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha," he asked.

Virtually launching the second phase of the Smart Village Campaign (SVC-II), along with Amarinder Singh, the Congress MP assured all panchayats of his party's full support to them, as well as the farmers and farm labour, in their fight against the new laws.

Representatives of all the Punjab village panchayats participated in the virtual launch programme.

Condemning the farm laws as a blatant attack by the BJP on the soul of each and every farmer of the nation, Rahul said the Centre had launched an assault on Punjab and its farmers with these ill-conceived and unconstitutional legislations.

"Every farmer and labourer is feeling the pain of this attack," he added.

The AICC leader lashed out at the BJP for allegedly imposing laws on the nation from the top, without taking people at the grass roots into confidence.

"That is the difference between the BJP and the Congress -- the former talking about buildings and not foundations," he said, noting that the farmland was the foundation of every village.

Rahul declared that the Congress will not allow India's foundations to be weakened in this manner and will go all out to strengthen these foundations.

Pointing out that the past decisions of the BJP government at the Centre had led to total collapse of the economy and promoted large-scale unemployment, the Congress leader congratulated Amarinder Singh for generating jobs for the youth.

Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar also took on the BJP on the farm laws which, he said, were designed to kill the farmers and the farming sector.

The state government, he said, should do everything in its power to prevent that from happening.