Farmer reachout: Capt visits Khanna mandi

Capt Amarinder Singh’s visit to the Khanna grain market today to assess the paddy procurement in the state has created ripples in Punjab’s already charged political scene.

Political theatrics, says Bajwa

On former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s visit to Khanna mandi on Friday, Leader of Opposition Partap Bajwa asked where he was when Punjab’s farmers first raised the alarm. “He remained silent when farmers’ crops were left to rot over the past three weeks. Now, on the eve of bypoll, he re-emerges with promises,” Bajwa remarked calling the ex-CM’s actions “political theatrics”.

This is not only because the paddy procurement is tardy and the state’s Aam Aadmi Party government and BJP-led Centre have been facing flak on the issue, but it is also because he is still remembered by the farmers of the state as being a Chief Minister in whose nine-year tenure, there were no problems in wheat and paddy procurement. Farmers recall how they did not have to languish in the mandis and payments were fast and smooth.

In fact, during his tenure, the foodgrain movement from the godowns of Punjab to other recipient states would begin much earlier, before the paddy crop was harvested, ensuring that there was no foodgrain storage crisis.

Even during the peak of Covid pandemic in 2020, Capt Amarinder, as Chief Minister, managed to ensure that each and every grain was procured. The arrivals of grains to the mandis were then staggered to ensure that there was no overcrowding in mandis and 132.22 LMT of wheat and 202.78 LMT of paddy were procured that year.

Comparatively, during the Akali BJP regime, some issues marred the foodgrain production and procurement even though the Akali-BJP government was considered a pro-farmer government. These included the issue of discoloured paddy produced in 2000, which FCI had initially refused to accept, but accepted later after relaxing specifications; the issue of Paddy 201 variety not being accepted for procurement in 2009, among others. His sudden visit to Khanna and the public reaction to it stirred the Aam Aadmi Party with Finance Minister Harpal Cheema asking Amarinder that since he often meets Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, why has he never raised the issues of Punjab’s farmers and commission agents in front of them?

“Capt Amarinder Singh’s party (BJP) hates Punjab and that is why they are deliberately harassing Punjabi farmers. Captain knows that the central government has withheld thousands of crores from various funds meant for Punjab, but strangely, Captain has never raised these issues before the Centre,” he said.

Cheema said that the people of Punjab know that the entire problem has been created by the central government. The Centre has not lifted rice from warehouses on time and has not listened to the concerns of the millers and commission agents, causing distress to farmers and arhtiyas in Punjab.

Capt Amarinder Singh is a now a BJP leader, and with the BJP being blamed for the ongoing paddy crisis by the AAP government, today he took the challenge head on by visiting the Asia’s largest grain market at Khanna and interacting directly with the aggrieved farmers...and that too on a day when the Samyukt Kisan Morcha began its state-wide road blockades as a mark of protest. Being amongst the tallest politicians in Punjab, he has chosen the right moment to re-enter the political arena after a long hiatus taken due to his ill-health.