Says governments should ensure to procure crops of farmers, the backbone of country, at minimum support price

Amritsar, June 13 – The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has supported the protest started by the farmers at Pipli, Kurukshetra in Haryana over the issue of minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

In a statement here today, SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami said that he strongly supports the farmers’ protest. He said that farmers are the backbone of the country, on whose heads the economy of the country and the life of the people depend. Suppressing the farmers and ignoring their rightful demands is unfair to this important section of the country.

Dhami said that it is the responsibility of the government to ensure the purchase of farmers’ crops at the MSP, but it is sad that the farmers of Haryana have to struggle for this. He said that the demand of farmers to bring the MSP and the procurement of crops under the ambit of law is absolutely legitimate and the government should not ignore it.

The SGPC President said that injustice to the farmers of the country is not right. He expressed regret that the ad-hoc Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) nominated by the Haryana Government is not providing langar (free food from the community kitchen) from the Gurudwara Sahibs under its management. He said that when the management of Gurdwaras in Haryana was under the SGPC, at that time the langar service for the farmers’ protest at Delhi was ensured continuously for a year. He said that the principle of the Guru house is to support the needy and the people struggling for their rightful demands. This is as per the teachings of the Gurus, but when the government-nominated committees start favoring the government instead of standing with humanity, it is directly against Sikh principles.

Harjinder Singh Dhami also strongly condemned the Punjab government’s action of forcible removal of protest by farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal at Patiala. He said that the Punjab government was not doing good by standing against the farmers. He advised Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann that he should value people’s sentiments to take decisions in favor of the people.