Deletion Of '11 Lakh' Ration Cards: Punjab Congress Hits Out At CM Bhagwant Mann

Chandigarh: Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab for caving in to the pressure of the BJP government at Centre, to exclude over 11 lakh beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) programme of free wheat.

“Modi proposes, Mann disposes”, Warring remarked in a statement while expressing his disappointment with the state government, despite its earlier claims that it will not exclude even a single beneficiary from the scheme.

The PCC president noted that after targeting farmers at the BJP’s behest by using brute force to remove them from peaceful protests, the AAP government in Punjab is now hitting at the poor, the downtrodden and the marginalized sections of the society.

Warring alleged that the BJP has deep and deliberate design in the whole issue as it knows that the people whom it is denying the benefit of free wheat, belong to the downtrodden sections of society like the Dalits, the labourers and the poor and they never vote for the BJP.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, also flayed the AAP government for what he called a ``shameful betrayal’’ of the state's poorest citizens.

NO RATION CARD WILL BE DELETED: MANN

Meanwhile, reiterating that no ration cards in the state will be deleted, the chief minister Mann said that the AAP government has sought six months’ time from the Union government in wake of the recent floods to verify these cards. He assailed the rationale being used to delete ration cards, which includes ownership of four-wheelers, government jobs, small landholdings, and income. Mann pointed out the absurdity of penalising entire families when just one member may fulfil one of these criteria.

It may be recalled that there are about 1.52 crore beneficiaries who get free wheat under NFSA in Punjab, at present.