Kejriwal cornered, says Capt

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 2

In a scathing response to his Delhi counterpart’s attack on him over the farmers’ issue, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday lashed out at Arvind Kejriwal for indulging in “double-speak”.

Slamming the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader for undermining the farmers’ fight by notifying one of the Central laws in Delhi, Captain Amarinder trashed Kejriwal’s assertion that states were helpless against the Central laws. He said it was clear that the AAP leader did not even want to try to fight the draconian legislations.

“Why else did he not bring any legislation in the state Assembly to at least try and negate some of the ill-effects of the Central laws?” asked Captain Amarinder.

Instead of just notifying the Central laws, Kejriwal could have tried to make some effort to counter these and protect the rights of the farmers, said Captain Amarinder, adding that it was evident that he had been now completely cornered on the issue.

As for the legality of the state’s amendment Bills, the Chief Minister pointed out that these were valid under the Constitution and had a strong precedent in the Bills that were passed by the Gujarat Government in 2015 under Article 254 (II) of the Constitution to oppose the Centre’s land acquisition laws. In fact, the then President Pranab Mukherjee had cleared those Gujarat Bills, he added.

Reacting to Kejriwal’s comment on the Centre being angry with him because his government did not allow Delhi’s stadiums to be used as jails for farmers, Captain Amarinder said the AAP leader was more worried about angering the latter than about the plight of the farmers.

The Delhi Government notified the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020 on November 23. The state development department is currently examining the remaining two agriculture laws.