The political storm over Punjab’s contentious land pooling policy intensified on Wednesday, with the BJP announcing a statewide yatra from August 17, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) summoning an emergency strategy meeting, and the Congress drawing direct parallels with the now-repealed central farm laws.
The mounting pressure from Opposition parties came as the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered a one-day stay on the policy, seeking clarity from the AAP-led state government regarding the rehabilitation of landless labourers and other rural dependents affected by the scheme.
Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar said the party would launch its “Save Land, Save Farmers Yatra” on August 17 from Patiala, culminating in Pathankot on September 5. The march, to be led by BJP working president Ashwani Sharma, will traverse agrarian heartlands to mobilise opposition to the policy, which the party alleges threatens farmers' rights.
"The AAP government must understand that tampering with farmers' land rights under the garb of policy reform will be resisted tooth and nail,” Jakhar said.
The SAD too moved into action, with senior leader Daljit Singh Cheema announcing that party president Sukhbir Badal had called a joint emergency session of the core and working committees in Chandigarh on Thursday. The party is expected to finalise its agitation strategy during the meeting.
Also read: AAP lands itself in ‘land pooling’ cesspool
Meanwhile, the Congress, which launched its campaign against the policy last month, sharpened its rhetoric. Jalandhar Cantonment MLA and former hockey Olympian Pargat Singh alleged that the initiative mirrored the BJP-led Centre’s now-scrapped farm laws and was similarly designed to favour large corporations.
“As the farm laws were withdrawn by PM Narendra Modi after protests by farmers, the land pooling policy will meet the same fate,” he declared at a press conference at the Punjab Congress Bhavan.
He further alleged that police authorities were “forcing farmers to part with their land,” intensifying fears of coercion in rural belts.
Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa added that the government was attempting to bypass social and environmental safeguards. “The policy’s purpose is to circumvent social and environmental impact assessments, enabling the government to seize farmers’ land and threaten the very foundation of the agrarian economy,” he said.
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