Across Party Lines, Panjab MPs Foreground State Issues in Parliament

The Indian Parliament is in its Monsoon Session. On 23 Jul, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget. Panjab MPs across party lines responded and raised the state’s critical issues. Four-time SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal asked for compensation for the water that Panjab gives to Rajasthan. She raised issues with budgetary discrimination even for natural calamities. She said, in 2023 when water was in excess, the Bhakra Dam flooded Panjab. But in the last four decades, whenever water is deficient, the Satluj Yamuna Link canal issue becomes live. She spoke about Chandigarh being denied as capital of Panjab. Two-time INC MP Dharamveer Gandhi said India is a union of states because states agreed to form the nation. For the last decade BJP has centralized powers and denied states their rights. He pointed at how Panjab’s Green Revolution fed the country for five decades but neighboring states got ‘special status’ to set up industry. Panjab did not even get agro-processing units and is now devastated. He said farmers are being structurally squeezed to benefit big corporations who are friends of the BJP. In the Farmers’ Protest 1.0 (2020-21), 730 people died, yet legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price has still not been implemented. He demanded funds for MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act – an employment generation scheme). First-time AAP MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer raised concerns over a 27% slash in subsidies on fertilizers and demanded a special package for Panjab. His colleague from AAP, Malvinder Singh Kang, asked for opening the Wagah border for betterment of all of North India. The level of their speeches indicates the MPs are cued into Panjab’s issues and have offered some solutions. Sadly, they expend energy fighting each other instead of working together for Panjab.