Farmers pleading for justice because Modi govt 'betrayed' them again and again: Kharge
New Delhi (PTI): Slamming the Centre, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said farmers are pleading for justice because the Modi government "betrayed them again and again", and asserted that the tillers' right to raise their voice should not be taken away from them.
Kharge asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi as to why farmers have to come to Delhi's doorstep again and again for justice.
"Today, when you will be on a tour to Haryana and Rajasthan, I hope that you will definitely try to understand the struggle of the farmer who provides food to the nation. Farmers are pleading for justice because your government has betrayed them again and again," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
"The betrayal of not doubling farmers' income by 2022, the betrayal of not implementing Input Cost + 50% MSP as per the Swaminathan report, and the betrayal of forming a committee to give legal status to MSP but not acting on it," he said, slamming the Modi government.
Kharge claimed that there was neither adequate procurement nor was it being done at a fair price.
"On top of that, farmers are troubled by the acute shortage of DAP and fertilizers!" he said.
"You laid a net of barbed wire on the path of the farmers, again turned the Delhi border into a cantonment, tried to stop their peaceful march with tear gas. Before this, you fired rubber bullets at them and showered lathis on them," he said.
"Not only this, in Parliament, you (PM Modi) yourself made derogatory remarks on farmers calling them 'andolanjeevi' and 'parjeevi' and did not even consider it appropriate to observe two minutes of silence in memory of 750 martyred farmers," Kharge alleged.
"In this situation, no matter how many lies you and your Agriculture Minister tell, the farmers who provide food have understood that you are their staunch opponent. Don't take away the farmers' right to raise their voice, Don't do injustice to them!" he said.
Agitating farmers suspended their foot march to Delhi on Sunday after some of them sustained injuries in teargas shelling by Haryana security personnel who thwarted yet another attempt by the protesters to cross the Punjab-Haryana border.
Farmer leaders said they would decide the next course of action on Monday.
After a group of 101 farmers resumed the foot march on Sunday afternoon, they were halted by a multilayered barricade set up by Haryana security personnel who surprised the protesters by offering them tea and biscuits and showering them with flower petals.
But the protesters claimed it was all a "drama" as the police soon lobbed teargas shells and used water jets to disperse them when they insisted on crossing the Shambhu border.
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SGPC writes to Mann, seeks ban on 'Emergency' in Punjab a day before release
Amritsar, Jan 16 (PTI): The SGPC on Thursday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking a ban on the release of Kangana Ranaut's movie 'Emergency' saying it "tarnishes" the image of Sikhs and "misrepresents" history.
Actor and BJP MP Ranaut's 'Emergency' is slated to release in cinemas on January 17.
In the letter to Mann, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami expressed strong objection to Ranaut's film.
Dhami said that if the film is released in Punjab, it will spark "outrage and anger" in the Sikh community and therefore it is the responsibility of the government to ban its release in the state.
The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, had earlier also protested the film.
"It has come to our attention that the movie 'Emergency' produced by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut is going to be released on 17th January 2025 in cinemas in different cities of Punjab and the tickets have also started to be booked," its letter to Mann read.
Dhami said the SGPC had also protested the release of the movie in a letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary on November 14 last year.
"But it is sad that the Punjab government has not taken any step till now. If this film is released on January 17, 2025, then it is natural to create outrage and anger in the Sikh world," the current letter read.
Dhami said the SGPC will submit a letter also to all the deputy commissioners in Punjab, seeking a ban on the film in the state.
The SGPC denounced the "character assassination" of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani militant killed in 1984 in a military operation.
"If this film is released in Punjab, we will be forced to strongly oppose it at the state level," Dhami said.
In August last year, the SGPC sent a legal notice to the producers of the 'Emergency' film, alleging that it "misrepresented" the character and history of Sikhs, and asked them to remove the objectionable scenes depicting "anti-Sikh" sentiments.
In the notice, the producers of the film, including Kangana Ranaut, were asked to remove the trailer released on August 14 from all public and social media platforms and tender a written apology to the Sikh community.
The SGPC objected to film writing separate letters to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification.
