‘Join them in their camps’: AAP’s Bhagwant Mann lashes out at Punjab CM over farm laws protests

The Aam Aadmi Party’s Bhagwant Mann has alleged that Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s response to the plight of the protesting farmers at Delhi borders has been tepid and demanded that he should act as a negotiator between the Centre and the farmers’ unions representatives over the issue.

Mann, the AAP's Lok Sabha leader, said that the chief minister is obligated to join the farmers at Delhi’s borders and should set up a helpdesk for them. He also attacked the Delhi Police over the construction of heavy barriers at Tikri border, one of the protest sites on the outskirts of Delhi, and said the preparations were akin to how one would prepare while facing a rival army.

“Police have put nail barricades as if it was some rival army that they have to stop. Captain Amarinder Singh, you are the chief minister, you should be at Delhi borders with the farmers. Why don't you arrange a helpdesk for them and join them at the camps?” Mann was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Mann also hinted that the Punjab chief minister has been silent over the newly passed farm laws and the subsequent protests. He said, “When your family is in trouble, you write to the Home Minister. Why don't you meet him now? When will you fulfil your promise of meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi? Why don't you act as a negotiator? All of us should rise above politics and support the farmers.”

Singh had met Union home minister Amit Shah in December last year to apprise him regarding the issues which could arise if the agitation staged by farmers’ unions' representatives carried on for a longer period of time. He had also intimated Shah that there was a slight possibility of anti-national elements hijacking the farmers’ protests against the three farm laws.

Soon after the meeting concluded, AAP leader Raghav Chadha had alleged that the chief minister of Punjab had abandoned the farmers’ of the state and accused Singh of being an ‘agent of the BJP.’ Chadha said that the chief minister was in cahoots with the BJP against the agitation against the farm laws.

“Captain Amarinder Singh is working as an agent of the BJP and trying to finish this agitation while trying to save his family from ED. In 2019, Captain Amrinder Singh gave his consent on these three laws and he is asking time from the President to withdraw these black laws but did not ask his friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Chadha was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

“Captain has not left his fort to stand with the farmers, earlier he met with Amit Shah but he never met with Congress president or farmers,” he further added.

Mann, Chadha and Saurabh Chaudhary have earlier alleged that Singh is trying to save his family from the Enforcement Directorate after the Punjab chief minister’s son, Raninder Singh, was summoned by the central agency for alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) earlier in November. A case was filed against Raninder Singh after the income tax department received information that he was allegedly holding an offshore account in the Alpine nations, news agency ANI reported.