Akali MLAs protest outside Punjab FM’s house, detained

Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislators, including Bikram Singh Majithia, were detained after they protested outside Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal’s residence here on Friday. The protestors had accompanied the family members of farmers who had committed suicide due to farm debts. Majithia is the younger brother of Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

The protestors blocked the entrance to the residence of Manpreet Badal to prevent him from reaching the state Assembly, where he was scheduled to present 2020-21 Budget. After a brief scuffle with the police, the protestors were detained.

Later, five-time Chief Minister and SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal rushed to the police station to offer solace to detained farm suicide victim families. Expressing shock at the police action, he said it amounted to murder of democracy. He said only in a feudal set up did rulers behave with their aggrieved subjects in such a manner. “Such an incident has never happened in the history of the state,” he added.

Badal said all the farm suicide victim families wanted was a personal audience with the Finance Minister so that they could request him to include the Congress government’s commitment to give a government job to one member from each victim family as well as compensation of Rs 10 lakh in the state budget.

“The Finance Minister could have come out and taken their representation. Instead of doing so he let loose the police force on them,” he said. Condemning the manner in which Chandigarh Police misbehaved with the victim families and SAD legislators who had accompanied them, Badal said the action was unprecedented.

He also slammed the Congress government for moving a privilege motion against SAD legislators who had accompanied the farm suicide victim families. He said the legislators were only assisting the victim families and had taken on a just public cause.- Inputs from IANS