Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh condemns NIA notices to farmers, calls it a provocative move

Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on Monday lodged a strong protest against the issuance of notices by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to several farmers and their supporters in the midst of the anti-farm laws agitation.

Condemning the same, he said that such arm-twisting tactics would not weaken the resolve of the farmers to fight for their rights and their future.

“Do these farmers look like secessionists and terrorists?” asked Capt Amarinder Singh, slamming the BJP-led Union government for resorting to such ‘reprehensible and oppressive tactics’ in their desperation to undermine the ongoing peaceful protests by the farmers.

"These measures will not succeed in destroying the resolve of the farmers; rather the Centre will only end up provoking them," he said, questioning the intent of the Union government, which, he said, seemed intent on pushing the farmers over the edge through such ‘intimidatory actions’.

Capt Amarinder Singh warned that the ‘BJP’s most powerful minds will not be able to control the situation if things got irretrievably out of hand’.

Instead of resolving the crisis triggered by the ‘draconian’ legislations, the BJP-led Central government was resorting to victimisation and harassment of the protesting farmers and their supporters, the CM pointed out, dubbing it as a regressive step that would lead to further hardening of the farmers’ stance.

It was obvious, he said, that the BJP-led NDA government neither cared for the farmers and their concerns, nor understood their psyche. “Punjabis are fighters by nature; they are imbued with the fighting spirit which makes them among the best warriors in the world,” he said, adding that the Centre’s coercive actions will only provoke the farmers from Punjab to react negatively.

He expressed shock over the Central government’s unrelenting opposition to the farmers’ genuine and justified demands and its total failure to empathise with the cause and concerns of the farmers who have been braving the extremely cold weather in Delhi, with many of them succumbing to prolonged exposure to the harsh weather.

Not only had the Centre been standing on ego in its adamant refusal to repeal the farm laws, it was actively and shamelessly indulging in strong-arm tactics to suppress the voice of the farmers, he said, pointing to the Income Tax notices issued to several big arhtiyas of Punjab about a month ago and now the NIA notices that were clearly aimed at pressurising the farmers into withdrawing their stir.

These ‘low-level actions’ will not suppress the voice of the farmers, or those millions of Indians who are supporting the ‘annadatas’ in their battle for survival, said the Punjab Chief Minister, adding that if the Central government had any shame left, it should immediately withdraw the farm laws and sit across the table with all the stakeholders, especially the farmers, to usher in an era of genuine agricultural reforms.