The Indian government is very keen to keep trains running in Punjab, JP Nadda wrote.
Chandigarh:
With train services suspended in Punjab for more than a month, BJP chief JP Nadda today tore apart Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, accusing his government of being responsible for the situation. Mr. Singh’s government, he wrote, had provided support to farmers protesting despite central government intentions and “Supreme Court instructions.”
“In my opinion, you are fully responsible for the unfortunate situation,” he wrote in an open letter, which, he said, was a response to Mr. Singh’s letter that he did not had not yet received.
Mr Singh had written an open letter to Mr Nadda on Sunday, expressing concern over the continued suspension of freight trains, which is expected to cut off state supply lines.
The state’s already low supply of coal is low, which can lead to an electricity crisis and farmers are worried about the possible shortage of fertilizers and essential items.
“The Indian government is very keen on running trains in the state of Punjab, but unfortunately you are not fulfilling the role expected of you and your government in the state of Punjab,” Mr. Nadda.
Mr. Singh and Congress, he added, openly encouraged agitations “crossing all the bounds of decency and property” against farm laws, introduced by the government in the interests of farmers.
The Punjab government, he wrote, had added “gasoline to the fire” in
“openly declaring that you will not file any FIR against the agitators, even if they engage in road dharnas, blocking the railway tracks”.
Claiming that the BJP holds farmers in high esteem, Nadda wrote that the party and the government are still determined to take all positive steps for their improvement.
In his Sunday letter, Singh called for “collective will and political sense” to resolve the blockade problem and resume rail service.
The situation, he wrote, could become extremely dangerous for the country if the armed forces were deprived of essential supplies amid increasingly aggressive overtures from China and Pakistan.
During a protest in Delhi today, Singh accused the Center of trying to create an “economic blockade” situation.
At the protest – which took place after President Ram Nath Kovind refused to meet with him and discuss agricultural laws – Mr Singh asked why the Center was trying to dismantle a system that worked in the Punjab before the Green Revolution.
