Amarinder Singh: Narendra Modi failed to address farmers' concerns

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said he was disappointed over Prime Minister Narendra Modis failure to address any of the major concerns of the farmers at his Malout rally earlier in the dayThe distressed farmers who had gathered to hear Modi found no succour for their problems in his long speech which was high on fluff and short of substance Amarinder Singh said in a statementModi had visited Malout town around 275 km from Chandigarh to address a thanksgiving rally organised by BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal in the wake of the biggest hike in MSP for paddy announced by the Modi government last weekThe Chief Minister said he was shocked over the fact that the Prime Minister failed to even mention the farmer suicides and debts or even the Swaminathan committees reportAmarinder Singh who heads the Congress government in agrarian Punjab said the rally turned out to be a sorry spectacle for the farmers who had braved sweltering heat in the hope of some concrete announcements from the Prime MinisterInstead Modis speech turned out to be an insipid affair focused on tomtomming of his governments fouryear rule which has been a complete failure on all counts Amarinder Singh saidThe Chief Minister said it was unfortunate that Modi had let go of a major opportunity to address the serious concerns of the farming communityIf he really wanted to thank the Punjab farmers for contributing to the nations Green Revolution and for continuing to feed millions of Indians day after day Modi should have come out with some concrete announcements on the critical issues of farm loan waiver and total implementation of the Swaminathan report Amarinder Singh saidIn his zeal to criticize the Congress Modi conveniently forgot that it was my party Congress that was responsible for ushering in the Green Revolution and thus ensuring the countrys food security He should have had the decency to at least acknowledge the Congress for waiving farmer loans while his own government had completely failed to provide them relief from massive debts the Chief Minister addedAmarinder Singh also flayed the Akali Dal for betraying Punjab by letting Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to participate in the rally in Muktsar districtConsidering Khattars stand on the SYL SutlejYamuna Link Canal and Punjab waters the Akalis should not have let him be a part of the rally in the first place or should have used the opportunity to corner him over these important issues which are vital to the interest of Punjab and its farmers Amarinder Singh saidCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever