AAP vows to make Punjab farmers free of debt by 2018

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday promised to implement the Swaminathan panel report and make farmers in Punjab debt-free by 2018. It was releasing its farmers’ manifesto at a rally in Baghapurana.

The AAP promised to implement the Sir Chotu Ram Act in the state, and put an end to farmer suicides, by December 2018. It also promised to waive loans beyond a threshold and promised to pay Rs 10,000 a month to farm labourers as compensation for the loss of income due to natural calamities. The manifesto promised that no property would be confiscated or attached in default of payment of loans.

The AAP was against sharing river waters with other states while promising 12-hour uninterrupted power supply free of cost to farmers. There would be no metres for tubewell connections, the AAP promised. The manifesto also promised Rs 5-lakh health cover for farmers and farm labourers in all government and private hospitals.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, addressing the thousands in attendance at the rally, said that the Badals were responsible for driving farmers to suicide.

He cautioned people about the Congress and SAD-BJP playing a friendly match in the polls, but claimed that the AAP would form the government in Punjab with a thumping majority. He promised to restore the lost glory of the farming community in Punjab. He said that he feared that the Badals “might attack me”. He added that if the AAP came to power, it would confiscate all buses belonging to the Badal family and hand them over to unemployed youths and also properties of chit fund companies that had defrauded people. MPs Bhagwant Mann and Sadhu Singh, state convener Gurpreet Ghuggi and AAP leader Sanjay Singh, among other senior leaders, were present at the event.