Punjab Congress leaders protest against BJP

CHANDIGARH: Leaders of the Congress Punjab unit were detained while they were protesting outside the Haryana BJP’s office on Friday, seeking registration of FIRs against Haryana home minister Anil Vij.
The protest, led by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, saw active participation of several senior leaders, including working president Bharat Bhushan Ashu, former CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, and former minister Balbir Singh Sidhu among others.The leaders were detained at the Sector-11 police station.
Addressing the gathering, Warring said that the Modi government should honour the commitments made during the previous farmers’ protest. He expressed firm opposition towards the treatment of farmers by saying, “Treating the anndata of our nation worse than terrorists is unacceptable.” Warring also drew a comparison, suggesting that the current government’s actions have “exacerbated the country’s situation to a level akin to what has been witnessed in Pakistan”.
“Our nation is a sole example where peaceful protests are met with such excessive force. How can the deployment of drones and firearms be justified against a peaceful demonstration? This represents an abuse of power by the BJP-led administration and glaring example of police brutality,” the PPCC chief said.
Responding to queries regarding the farmers’ intent to enter Delhi using tractors, Warring said, “Why are farmers being prevented from entering Delhi with their tractors? How does the use of a tractors become a point of contention? The government continues to exploit our farmers and then labels them as terrorists.”
He added, “Unfortunately, it took the sacrifice of over 700 farmers before the BJP government decided on suspension of the three contentious farm laws. Yet, there has been no actual repeal of the laws or fulfilment of other assurances made to the farmers.”
Warring said while the government readily waived the debts of corporate giants, it hesitated to address the debts of farmers. Accusing the central government of prioritising the interests of big business houses while neglecting the vital contributions of farmers and MSMEs to the nation’s progress, he said, “If the same level of debt relief extended to corporate giants was granted to farmers, it could have significantly benefited the economy.”
“We have gathered to protest not as a political entity, but as Punjabis. We are staging demonstrations across the state to combat the abuse of power by the BJP against our farmers. How can they authorise police brutality against farmers within the confines of Punjab? Manohar Lal Khattar and Anil Vij are merely executing the directives of Narendra Modi,” Warring added.