Chandigarh: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Sunil Jakhar said that the lies of Shiromani Akali Dal that it was kept in the dark by the Modi government regarding agricultural laws have been exposed by its “big brother” BJP.

Referring to a statement issued by senior BJP leader and former union minister Vijay Sampla, the state congress chief said that it had shattered the Akali Dal’s policy of misleading the people.

Sunil Jakhar

It may be recalled that Sampla in a statement has said that the BJP-led govt’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had entrusted the responsibility of “educating” the farmers of Punjab on the issue of agricultural amendment laws to its ally Shiromani Akali Dal but the latter failed in their duty.

Jakhar said that BJP leader’s statement had exposed the lies of the Akali Dal which claimed that the Union government had not given any information about the Black Agriculture Act and Ordinances earlier.

“If BJP had given the responsibility of explaining the new laws to the farmers of Punjab or misled them in the true sense then how could it be that they had no knowledge about the black laws in detail? In fact SAD leaders were acting as agents of BJP in Punjab to mislead the farmers and they were now trying unsuccessfully to infiltrate to weaken the peasant movement so that the vision of the Central Government remains on them, he said.

Vijay SamplaState congress president said that it was also true that for the past three months the entire Akali leadership including Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal had been calling the “black-laws” a “boon” for the farmers.

“When the sensible farmers of Punjab were not fooled by the lies of Akali Dal then BJP itself realized that the Akalis who were playing politics in the name of farmers had lost their so-called base. Therefore, the BJP, considering the Akali Dal as a burden for the alliance, had shown the SAD a door. Hypocritically the Akalis were now calling the resignation a “sacrifice” out of shame.

However, the Akali Dal, in its bid to gain the benefit from the Central Government, is still offering its support to Modi Sarkar, Jakhar said.