MSP panel without Punjab representation will be ‘body without soul’: Mann

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday slammed the Union government for ignoring the state while constituting the committee for recommending Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops.

In a statement, the Chief Minister said that it is a discriminatory move as the farmers of the state have been ignored because the BJP-led NDA government does not want to give a platform to farmers of the state to air their views. Punjab's stiff opposition of the draconian farm has unnerved the Modi government, he said. ' This dictatorial attitude is unacceptable and unwarranted as without Punjabi farmers the committee hardly has any relevance' he said, adding that without the state's representation the committee will be like a ‘body without a soul'.

The Chief Minister said that apparently instead of aiming at farmers' welfare the NDA government is trying to settle political scores with them by keeping the food growers of Punjab out of it. He said that MSP is the legal right of farmers and if the Union government wants that farmers should get its benefits then the farmers of Punjab should have been included in this committee. Bhagwant Mann said that without Punjabi representation the committee, with ‘armchair economists' at helms of affairs, will not be able to do justice with the food growers of the country in general and that of Punjab in particular.

The Chief Minister said that due to ever increasing input costs and low returns, the farmers of state are already reeling under huge debts.