Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said many had lost their jobs and many more were likely to be rendered jobless as a result of the continued farmers’ stir against farm laws.

Hitting out the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the CM said it was evident that the Akalis were trying to divert the farmers’ attention from the Centre to the state, with an eye on the Assembly polls, unmindful of the harm this would cause to the state and to the farmers themselves, he added.

He said no Akali leader, especially Harsimrat, had the moral right to speak on the crisis triggered by the farm laws, which they could easily have averted when they were part of the Central government and party to each of its anti-people decisions.

Ridiculing the former Union minister’s remarks that he (Captain Amarinder) was speaking the language of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership and the Prime Minister, the CM said left to the ruling party at the Centre and in neighbouring Haryana, the farmers would not have even reached the Delhi borders to make their voice heard.

“I never asked the farmers to go to Delhi. They were forced to leave their homes and sit at the border of the national capital, facing the elements and even losing their lives, as a result of your coalition government’s acts of commission and omission,” he said, asking Harsimrat to stop lying about her brazen complicity in the imposition of the farm laws on the farmers, not just of Punjab but the entire country.

Dubbing as atrocious Harsimrat’s suggestion that the farmers should protest in Punjab while their fight was against the BJP-led government at the Centre, the CM quipped “it’s like asking someone to go to the western front to fight an enemy that is standing at the eastern border.”

Taking a dig at Harsimrat’s claim of being “surprised and pained” at his remarks, Amarinder said either the SAD leader was deliberately lying or was totally dumb and apathetic to the plight of the state and its people.

Trashing Harsimrat’s allegation that he had failed to fulfil his responsibilities to the people, the CM pointed out that already, many had lost their jobs and many more were likely to be rendered jobless as a result of the continued stir.