What happened
Aam Aadmi Party leaders in Punjab said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state did not address the issues that mattered most to people. Party spokesperson Baltej Pannu said the Prime Minister ignored demands for relief for farmers, a legal guarantee for minimum support price, and the release of Punjab’s withheld funds.
Baltej Pannu said Punjabis expected answers on farmers’ deaths during the agitation, but instead heard accusations against the state government that the Aam Aadmi Party described as baseless. State Aam Aadmi Party leaders also rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “double-engine government” slogan.
Background and earlier position
Punjab’s farmers’ movement has kept minimum support price, debt stress, and relief for aggrieved cultivators at the centre of state politics. The dispute has also fed into a wider Centre-state argument over rural development funds and the distribution of financial resources.
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