Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 27
Condemning the Republic Day violence in Delhi, especially at the Red Fort, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday termed it an insult to the nation and said it had brought shame to the country and weakened the farmers’ agitation.
He, however, made it clear that he continued to stand with the farmers as the agricultural laws were wrong and against the country’s federal ethos. Stressing that the Red Fort was a symbol of Independent India and thousands of people had laid down their lives for freedom, the CM said Mahatma Gandhi had fought the entire war of Independence with the weapon of non-violence. “My head hangs in shame at what happened in the national capital on Tuesday.” Even as he demanded action against the perpetrators, who he said were not farmers but misguided youth indulging in symbolism, Capt Amarinder said such problems would continue to take place if the Centre fails to listen to the public.
Bring perpetrators to book
The Delhi Police should probe and take action against the perpetrators. The Centre should also probe the involvement of any political party, while making sure that no farmer leaders are unnecessarily targeted or harassed by the police. Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister
A government for the people and by the people cannot ignore the will of the people, he said, adding that the performance of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre would not be acceptable in the next elections to a majority in a country where 70 per cent of the population was of farmers. The BJP should realise that stability and secularism, encompassing all minorities, was the key to the inclusive growth of the nation, Capt Amarinder added.Reiterating that the farm laws would be death knell for the economic empowerment of future generations of the protesting farmers, the CM said private corporates were even now functioning in Punjab and could continue coming into the state without destroying the established system of the MSP, arhtiyas and the public distribution system.
Meanwhile, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Sunil Jakhar said the violence was a pre-planned act of the BJP-led government that facilitated the movement of ‘wrong elements’ to the Red Fort so that it could succeed in undermining the genuine cause of farmers. “The BJP seems to have succeeded in diverting attention from the core issue as evidence clearly suggests that Deep Sidhu was planted to foment trouble by trying to give the stir a communal colour. However, the farmers’ cause is bigger than any other cause of any union or party.”
Blaming the BJP government and the Delhi Police for targeting the peaceful protesters than those responsible for the violence, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa said: “The masterminds of Tuesday’s incident should be thoroughly probed and an action must also be taken against those proven to be close to the ruling dispensation.” He said the FIR against the farm leaders was an attempt to malign and misdirect the public and to paint the protest movement as violent or anti-national.