Punjab: BJP accuses Sidhu of 'spreading lies, misleading farmers' on Contract Farming Act

The Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday hit out at the state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu over the Punjab Contract Farming Act, 2013. Reacting to Sidhu’s sharp criticism over the act, BJP asked why it took eight years to react to the law if it "was not in the interest of farmers”. BJP state general secretary Subhash Sharma targeted Congress and said that the party didn’t reject the law while they were in power. Sharma’s criticism came a day after the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief accused the Badals of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of framing the laws.

Sharma noted that Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur was part of the then SAD-BJP government in the state in 2013. The BJP leader said that the contract farm law was made back then, yet Sidhu did not oppose it back then and was making a "false reaction" now. He further asked why the Congress-led government in the state did not reject the law while they were in power for the last four-and-a-half- years.

The Punjab BJP leader reiterated that the Amarinder Singh-led government amended the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act in 2017 and not BJP. He claimed that the amendment allowed private mandis, private yards and direct purchase of crops from farmers, and asked why Sidhu didn’t react to the amendments then. Sharma asked Sidhu not to "mislead farmers by spreading lies" and challenged him to show where in the law it was written about the corporate takeover of farmer's land.

Navjot Sidhu attacks Akali Dal over farm laws

Sharma’s criticism of Sidhu came after the Punjab Congress chief on Wednesday launched a frontal attack on SAD, claiming that the Badals laid the foundation for the Centre's three farm laws. Addressing a press briefing, Sidhu had pointed out similarities between The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and The Punjab Contract Farming Act, 2013 passed by the state Assembly during Parkash Singh Badal's tenure as the Punjab CM. For instance, he claimed that both laws mandated dispute settlement by bureaucracy and did not mention Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee. The Congress leader also alleged that the Centre’s farm laws were made to benefit corporates.  

(Image: PTI/ FACEBOOK)