“End discrimination meted to Punjab,” Badal appeals to Modi

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi

to review the “unending saga of discrimination and sheer injustice” allegedly meted out to Punjab by successive Governments at Centre after country’s Independence. Badal recalled “how our state was deliberately deprived from justice on the legitimate territorial issues including the transfer of Chandigarh and Punjabi speaking areas to Punjab and sharing of river waters on the basis of universally accepted riparian principles”. Reaction from Badal came after Modi during his visit to Bihar announced a package of 1.25 lakh crore for election bound state.

Apart from these, the five-time Chief Minister also pointed out “how the state?s industry was ruined gradually after granting liberal concessions and incentives to the industry in the neighbouring states”.

He appealed to the Prime Minister to bail out the distressed peasantry in this hour of crisis as it was now feeling totally dejected and thus called for tangible solution to end their woes immediately and make agriculture far more profitable and economically viable occupation to sustain their livelihood.

He said, “what to talk of rewarding the hapless farmers for their hard work and sincerity in attaining national food security, rather the poor peasantry has been blatantly ignored by the Central Governments at helm of affairs one after another since independence and none bothered to secure their interests.”

Seeking direct and personal intervention of the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister urged Modi to immediately take a call on these issues to end an era of despair and agony confronted by the beleaguered peasantry thereby formulating pro-farmer policies to boost their morale.