LoP Bajwa slams Punjab govt over arrest of farmer leader

Chandigarh, March 30 (IANS) Punjab Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Partap Bajwa on Saturday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party government for helping the Ambala Police in nabbing the Haryana-based farmer leader, Navdeep Singh Jalbera, from Mohali.

Bajwa said the Haryana police had registered false cases against him just because he along with other farmers was protesting against the BJP-led Central government.

“How can Haryana Police come to Punjab to arrest someone without informing their counterpart in Punjab? The AAP government has always been complicit with BJP-led Haryana and the Central government to suppress the farmers' agitation,” Bajwa added. 

Farmer activist Jalbera has been arrested by the Haryana Police in connection with an FIR registered during the farmers' Delhi Chalo protest last month. His arrest comes ahead of a gathering convened by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mukti Morcha (KMM) on Sunday to pay homage to Shubhkaran Singh (21), a farmer who was killed in a clash with police on February 21.

While terming the AAP government anti-farmers, Bajwa also exhorted the government to get the survey (girdawari) done to assess the losses caused to wheat crops by the untimely rain and hailstorm last night.

“The wheat farmers have once again been at the receiving end. The farmers suffered awfully due to incessant rain last year too, however, the Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government failed miserably to get the survey (girdawari) done to provide competition. Farmers survived the floods without any financial assistance from the AAP government,” Bajwa added.

--IANS

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