Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday appealed to the farmers to ensure that their tractor rally on Republic Day remains peaceful, just as their anti-Farm Law protests have been so far.
The Chief Minister also urged the Centre once again to heed the troubled voice of the farming community in the true spirit of the Indian Republic.
"Peace has been the hallmark of your (farmers) democratic protests all these months, and should remain integral to your agitation in the days ahead, including the R-Day Tractor Rally into the national capital," the Chief Minister said in his Republic Day eve message.
"The sight of your (farmers) tractors on Delhi roads tomorrow will underline the fact that the ethos of the Indian Constitution and the essence of our Republic is inalienable and uncompromisable," he said, adding that the farmers' arduous battle for survival "will always remind us of this truth, and it will always help us remember (lest we forget), that the principles on which stands the edifice of the India we know, and our forefathers strove to build, cannot be destroyed or demolished on the whims of a few."
Lamenting that the federal structure on which India's polity is founded is facing one of its biggest threats under the present Indian regime, the Chief Minister said that the brazen manner in which the three Farm Laws were pushed through, without debate or discussion, cannot, and should not be accepted in the world's largest democracy.
Read: Farmers' stir: Tableaux to depict farmer struggles on R' day tractor parade
The Centre had absolutely no power to legislate on a state subject, which Agriculture is, and the implementation of the farm legislations violate every principle of our Constitution and the federal structure it stands for, he added.
The Chief Minister said their collective fight, in which his government was standing shoulder to shoulder with the farmers, was aimed at protecting the federal core of the Indian Constitution.
"We stand by every farmer whose sweat and blood has nurtured Punjab's soil for decades, and without whom India today would not stand tall as a self-reliant nation. Besides compensation and job for one family member of each of the deceased farmers, we shall extend any other help their families may need. We shall continue also to reach out to the families of those still camping at the Delhi border to make their voice heard by the Government of India," said Singh, reaching out to farmers and their families in Punjab.
He extended his respects to all those farmers who had lost their lives in the prolonged agitation, which he said could have been avoided or could have been brought to an end long back had the "insensitive" Government of India, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not chosen to stand on unwarranted ego.
There was no justification, said the Chief Minister, for the Centre's adamant refusal to repeal the Farm Laws, which, in any case, have been implemented arbitrarily without consultation or discussion with the farmers and other stakeholders.
Read: Farmers' stir: Delhi Police announces routes for farmers' tractor rally
