On the first day of the special Assembly session convened to counter the Centre’s farm laws, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday led the House in paying homage to all farmers who have lost their lives during the ongoing agitation in protest against the Narendra Modi government’s “draconian” agricultural laws.
The House was adjourned for an hour after paying tributes to Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu of Tarn Taran, lance naik Karnail Singh, besides freedom fighters Mahinder Singh, Sardar Singh, Rai Singh Patanga and Hemraj Mittal, who passed away recently. The session resumed around noon but was adjourned for the day after adopting a resolution to extend the duration of the special session by a day.
The Punjab Cabinet on Sunday authorised Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to introduce the Bill to counter the Centre’s three “anti-farmers” agri laws. It would be presented in the House for approval on Tuesday.
The Punjab government had last Wednesday decided to convene a special session of the Punjab Assembly on 19 October “to bring in legislation to counter the dangerous anti-farmer farm laws of the Central government”.
The CM had earlier announced that his government will fight the “anti-federal“ and “vicious“ farm laws tooth and nail through legislative, legal and other routes. He had said some days ago that he would call a special session of the Assembly to bring in necessary amendments to the state laws to “negate the dangerous impact of the central legislations, which are designed to ruin the farmers as well as the state’s agriculture and economy”.
Earlier in the day, the Shiromani Akali Dal and two Congress’ Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) rode tractors to the Assembly but were stopped by police at a roundabout near the Assembly complex. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs came to the Assembly wearing black capes.
The AAP MLAs staged a dharna in the Well of the House, demanding copies of the Bill against the farm laws to be tabled in the Assembly. SAD leader Bikram Majithia told reporters that they chose a tractor as a vehicle associated with farmers to mark their protest against the farm laws. Before going into the House, Akalis burnt copies of farm laws outside the Assembly.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Congress’s chief Sunil Jakhar said the Punjab Assembly should pass a unanimous resolution condemning the humiliating treatment meted out to the farmers representatives by the Modi government. “In doing so BJP has insulted not just the farming community but Punjab itself,” he said in a tweet.