Unprecedented gathering of people at AAP’s Kisan Maha Sammelan in Bagha Purana (Moga)
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Unprecedented gathering of the people from all over Punjab was witnessed at the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Kisan Maha Sammelan held in support of the farmers’ movement at Bagha Purana on Sunday. The convention commenced with the leaders observing 2-minute silence as tribute for the farmers’ who sacrificed their lives during the ongoing agitation. Floral tributes were presented to 282 farmer martyrs of the farmers’ movement. AAP’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who specially attended the Kisan Maha Sammelan, was welcomed by party’s Punjab affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh. Addressing the people, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal said that he had come to salute the farmers of Punjab who were the first to speak out against the three black farms laws passed by the Union government. He said that the movement first arose in Punjab, then it reached Delhi and gradually this farmers’ movement had now become a movement of the whole country. Kejriwal said that whenever there was any injustice, the people of Punjab had always taken the lead in protesting against that injustice.
“Even today, when the Modi government at the Centre came up with the black farm laws in a dictatorial manner, the Punjabis have led the agitation against these laws. The people were rejecting the BJP today only because of the anti-people policies,” he said. Kejriwal said that recently at the BJP stronghold in Surat, the Aam Aadmi Party contested for the first time, winning 27 seats and defeating the Congress. “Wherever I have gone all over the country, people have said that they are all with the farmers’ movement,” he added. Kejriwal said that the people who were calling the farmers’ movement as a movement of one or two states were thinking wrong, in fact this movement has become a movement of every person, every child in the country. “I have not only supported this movement from the beginning, but also participated in it. It is because of the farmers’ agitation that the Modi government at the Centre is being harassed today,” he added. Kejriwal said that the Modi government had now brought a law in Parliament to usurp all the powers of the Delhi government; in which all powers should be taken away from the Chief Minister and given to lieutenant governor (LG). He said that the Modi government wants to suppress the Delhi government, which we will not allow to happen.
Kejriwal said that when the farmers of Punjab were going to Delhi, the farmers were subjected to all sorts of atrocities on the way but the farmers of Punjab kept moving towards Delhi. “When the farmers reached the Delhi border, the Modi government hatched a big conspiracy to make big stadiums in Delhi as jails and throw the farmers into them. But it was fortunate that the Modi government did not have the power to turn stadiums into jails, it was with our Delhi government,” he added. Kejriwal said that when the Modi government sent him a file through the police to turn the stadiums into jails, they refused it. “We were under a lot of pressure, but we did not give up. Replying to the Modi government, I wrote on the file that the agitation of the farmers is peaceful, their demands are legitimate and they should be accepted. We responded to the Modi government of not converting stadiums into jails and that is why the Modi government has brought a law in Parliament that not all the powers in Delhi will belong to the Chief Minister, they will belong to LG,” he said.
He further said that the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs, MPs and volunteers continued to serve all the farmers like a ‘sewadar’ without any party symbol. Kejriwal said that the Delhi government has provided drinking water, arrangements for toilets, langar were made and then after some people took up the matter of difficulty to talk in the village due to lack of mobile network, we arranged the WiFi services. “One day when I was going to meet the farmers at Singhu border, the Delhi Police detained me at home because they work under the Modi government,” he said. Kejriwal said that the Modi government ministers and BJP leaders kept calling the farmers as Khalistanis, terrorists, to tarnish the image of farmers’ movement. He said that the Aam Aadmi Party had filed cases against 70 BJP leaders who had tried to defame the farmers. “The parties in power for the last 70 years have betrayed the farmers. In order to get votes, the conventional parties promise to forgive the debts of the farmers, to provide jobs, but when they come to power, they forget everything,” he added.
Kejriwal said that if these three farm laws were enacted then the farmers would have nothing left, all would go to these capitalist friends of these traditional parties. Targeting the Punjab government, he said that Captain Amarinder Singh had promised to provide smartphones before the elections in 2017, to forgive the debts of the farmers, to provide jobs to every household, but none of the promises were fulfilled. Showing Captain Amarinder Singh’s pre-poll job card, Kejriwal said that Captain Amarinder had reneged on his promises. He said that the card issued by Captain Amarinder Singh should not be thrown away but should be kept. “This card will remind you how the Captain lied and got votes, four years ago. Captain has betrayed you and now you have to take revenge,” he added. Referring to a recent survey conducted by a private channel, Kejriwal said that according to the survey, the Aam Aadmi Party would form the government in Punjab in 2022. “When the Aam Aadmi Party government will be formed, the AAP government will provide jobs to all on the job cards issued by the Captain and unemployment benefits will also be given until jobs are found,” he said. Kejriwal further said that every promise made by the Aam Aadmi Party to the people in Delhi has been fulfilled but Captain Amarinder has not fulfilled a single promise. He said that 73% of the people in Delhi do not get electricity bills while the people of Punjab buy the most expensive electricity.
Kejriwal said that before the elections in Delhi, he had promised to build schools and today the schools in Delhi have become excellent, today the children of the poor are studying in excellent schools. “Promised to build a hospital, today even an operation of Rs 15 lakh is free, medicine is free. Within a year we would all go from village to village, street to street and community to create the dream of a new Punjab. To create a Punjab in which farmers, traders, everyone is happy, where everyone gets education, everyone gets health facilities,” he said. Kejriwal said that when the Aam Aadmi Party government would come in Punjab, a new and prosperous Punjab would be created. “We want to tell the people of Punjab that we are fully with the farmers. Until the government withdraws the laws, the Aam Aadmi Party will not sit idly by,” he added. AAP’s Punjab in-charge Jarnail Singh said that today everyone in the country was protesting against the dictatorial Narendra Modi government’s anti-farmer laws. He said that the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had been standing firm with the farmers’ agitation since day one while Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh was scared of the notice of ED and sold the farmers of Punjab to the Union Government.
AAP’s Punjab president and Member of Parliament (MP) from Sangrur, Bhagwant Mann thanked the people present at the Kisan Maha Sammelan and said that today the fire burning in the hearths of Punjab and the farmers’ fraternity was in danger. Targeting the Badal family, he said that they were using religion and whenever any crisis befell the Badal family used religion. Targeting the Captain government, Mann said that justice had not been served in the Bargari sacrilege case yet. He said that none of the promises made by Captain Amarinder Singh before the elections have been fulfilled. Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema said that Captain Amarinder Singh had made many promises to the people but none were fulfilled. “Now that the elections are approaching, they have brought with them Prashant Kishore to win the elections who had earlier made false promises to the people,” he added.
On the occasion all the MLAs of Punjab including Sarvjeet Kaur Manuke, Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Aman Arora, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Manjit Singh Bilaspur , Kulwant Singh Pandori, Prof Baljinder Kaur, Rupinder Kaur Ruby, Jai Kishan Singh Rodi, Amarjit Singh Sandoa, Principal Budh Ram, Jagtar Singh Jagga Hissowal, Youth Wing co-president Anmol Gagan Mann, State General Secretary Harchand Singh Barsat, State Treasurer Neena Mittal, Former Lok Sabha Member Prof Sadhu Singh, senior leader Dr Balbir Singh, state secretary Amandeep Singh Mohi, Ashok Talwar, Baljit Singh Khaira, Dharamjit Singh Kameana and other leaders, volunteers and supporters were present in large numbers.
March 21,2021
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