Farm loan wavier, legalising MSP to be in Congress manifesto, claims Partap Singh Bajwa

Punjab assembly leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said in a press conference today that besides its promise of legalising MSP, the party would also give farmers a ‘large loan waiver’ if the INDIA bloc forms a government after the Lok Sabha elections.

“Not only will we give MSP, if the INDIA bloc forms a government, a large loan waiver will be given to farmers rather than corporate houses. Farmers will receive loan waivers and good prices for their crops, and our market will improve too. By every account, the nation will be more prosperous if money goes to the rural sector,” said Bajwa. He also claimed that the UPA government had forgiven ₹72,000 crore of farmers’ debts, while the NDA government had forgiven ₹11 lakh crore in corporate debts. However, Bajwa later clarified that he had spoken to the Congress national leadership regarding debt forgiveness, and the issue would ‘most probably’ find a place in its election manifesto.

Bajwa slammed the Central and Haryana government’s response to the farmers’ protesting in and around the national capital. He was especially critical of chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s response to the protests, and alleged that the Punjab CM had failed to protect the people of the state.

“The Haryana police behaved in an extremely aggressive manner, despite the fact that nobody had entered Haryana’s territory. What was the Punjab police doing? The Punjab police should have stood as a shield before the people of Punjab,” he added.