AAP govt robbing Punjab farmers of their land: Chugh

Amritsar, Jul 09: “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will defy tooth and nail the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s policy of grabbing their land to hand it over to the real estate mafia,” BJP National General Secretary, Tarun Chugh, said on Wednesday.Interacting with a delegation of farmers in Amritsar, Chugh said the Modi government is committed to protecting the interests of farmers. “The BJP would not allow the AAP government in Punjab to run down on the rights of farmers,” he said, according to a statement issued here.The BJP leader condemned the land pooling policy, saying it favours real estate sharks. “Punjab farmers’ land is a food bowl for the nation, and it is criminal to deprive the farmers of their land for favouring real estate dealers supported by Arvind Kejriwal,” he said. “The scheme proposes to acquire around 75,000 acres of fertile agricultural land across Punjab under the guise of creating new urban centres and industrial regions. In Amritsar alone, 4,464 acres are proposed to be pooled — a move that has triggered unrest and anxiety among local farmers.”According to the statement, the farmers submitted a memorandum to Chugh, raising their concerns and rejecting this unilateral and forceful land policy. The BJP leader questioned the very necessity and justification of the scheme, saying the real stakeholders – Punjab’s annadatas – were neither consulted nor considered during the formulation of this policy.“When farmers, the very backbone of Punjab, are not part of the conversation, it becomes clear that the scheme’s intentions are either deliberately hidden or meant to favour land mafias and Kejriwal’s close associates,” he said.Chugh described the policy as a “draconian, unconstitutional land-grabbing Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the puppet Mann government working under Arvind Kejriwal’s remote control”.“This has nothing to do with development. It’s a plan to loot the land of innocent farmers and hand it over to land mafias and Kejriwal’s cronies,” he alleged.Chugh said the BJP would challenge the scheme in court, take it to every village in Punjab, and launch statewide protests to stop this unconstitutional act.  “This is not land pooling, it’s ‘loot pooling’. We will not let this tyrannical government take even an inch of our farmers’ land. If needed, we’ll go on a fast unto death. But we will not let 3 crore Punjabis be betrayed,” he said.“The AAP government is dragging Punjab to the bottom ranks of the financial health index. Such schemes will take Punjab’s economy to shambles,” the BJP leader added.