BJP’S contradictory stands on property rights in different States smacks of communalism: SAD

Source:-https://www.dailypioneer.com

Shiromani Akali Dal on Wednesday lashed out against “the double standards of BJP Governments at the Centre and in States on property ownership rights of citizens in different States”.

Akali Dal came down heavily against the “contradiction in the reported decision of the BJP Government to allow property ownership rights to outsiders in Jammu & Kashmir on the one hand and denial of these rights to farmers from Punjab in Gujarat and Rajasthan under BJP Governments on the other,” said senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema.

“This deliberate contradiction between the two yardsticks smacks of strong communal prejudices. Isn’t it strange that while anyone can buy and own properties, including agricultural lands, in Punjab and now in J&K, where the country’s two main minority communities happen to be in a majority, Punjabis are denied the same rights in other states, notably in Gujarat and Rajasthan,” said Cheema, wondering why no Indian citizen has the right to buy agricultural land in Himachal Pradesh.

Cheema said that the problem for Punjabis is particularly severe in Gujarat and Rajasthan though our farmers have had to face these hardships in several other parts of the country too. “Gujarat under BJP has been particularly harsh on Punjabi settlers who reclaimed barren soil and transformed it into fertile lands through sheer hard work over the decades. They went to the Kutch region in the 60s on the invitation of the then State Government at a time when no one, not even the locals, were ready to reside in these areas because of difficult topography and proximity to the live and hostile international border. But once the Punjabi farmers turned the barren tracts into fertile zones, they faced eviction, despite a High Court ruling in their favour,” said Cheema.

Instead of honouring the HC verdict, the BJP Government in Gujarat chose to prolong the Punjabi farmers’ misery by taking the matter to the Supreme Court, he added.

SAD leader said that even with regard to J&K, the bias against Punjabis is obvious as their mother tongue, Punjabi, has been denied the status of official language despite the fact that Punjabi is spoken by a significantly large number of Kashmiris as their mother tongue, and is understood all across the valley. Plus, the valley had once been a part of Punjab under the Khalsa Raj of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he added.