Jalandhar, August 12
The Akali Dal-1920 has strongly opposed the act of the governments of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to purchase lands of farmers at the behest of the Reliance Group and other big business and industrial houses.
Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Ravi Inder Singh, the President of the Akali Dal-1920, said that it was “wrong” on the part of the state governments to act on behalf of big business and industrial houses. “Those running business and industrial houses should purchase the land of farmers on their own, and the governments should not allow themselves to be used as their instruments. We oppose the move of the UP government, which has purchased land on behalf of the Reliance Group. Our party is going to participate in a rally, which is being organised by former Prime Minister, Mr V.P. Singh, at Dadri in UP on August 17,” he said.
Expressing hope that political parties barring the Congress and the BJP might come forward to forge some joint political front at the national level in near future, he said such efforts were underway in Punjab also and were likely to bear fruit soon.
“Our party, along with the Akali Dal (Longowal), Lok Bhalai Party, CPI, CPI (M), certain farmers’ organisations, is making joint efforts to hammer out a solution in this regard, and an announcement is likely to be made about this shortly. We are taking the help of regional, national and leftist parties in our venture. We feel that the people of Punjab would accept such a joint front with open arms, as they are fed up with the politics of opportunism,” he said, adding that his party was participating in the conference being held at Longowal on August 20.
Rejecting the marginal hike in prices of crops like sugarcane, cotton and paddy, he suggested that the Central government should announce a considerable hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of these crops. “Not only this, we feel that something concrete should be done to check the alarming pollution levels of water and environment. Groundwater of Punjab should be subjected to exhaustive testing,” he said.
Equating the Congress and the BJP as “two sides of a coin”, he alleged that the BJP was opposed to Dalits, minorities, regional parties and small-time traders and small-time industrialists. There is hardly any difference in the BJP and the Congress. So, we have decided to extend our full cooperation to Mr. V.P. Singh, who is busy working out unity among regional parties, backward classes, Dalits, marginal farmers, minorities, leftist forces and farmers. We also laud his efforts in this direction, as the country needs a practical and viable third force to rely upon,” he added.
