With the farmers running a riot in the national capital on January 26, the agitation has begun to lose steam, and has also lost any little sympathy which it might have enjoyed for so long among the people of India. Captain Amarinder Singh, the chief minister of Punjab who, during the initial days of the agitation lent his wholehearted support to the protesting ‘farmers’ was gradually seen distancing himself from the same, as it became clear to him that certain anarchists and separatists had not only infiltrated the protests, but hijacked it.
With the Republic Day violence effectuated by such elements, Captain Amarinder Singh has come out in the open to defy his party’s official line, while also suggesting that Pakistan might have a potential role in the protests. That the entire agitation could be a handiwork of Pakistan itself is also a possibility, although Captain did not say so in as many words. What the Punjab CM did say, however, was that Pakistan was trying to infiltrate ever since the farmers’ protests first began.
Captain said, “There has been a spurt in ‘drone delivery’ since the farmers’ agitation started and ‘weapons, money and heroine’ have been coming in. Pakistan has sleeper cells which they can activate because a disturbed Punjab suits Pakistan’s policy.” The Punjab chief minister added, “Since the farmers’ struggle started in October, the number of weaponries that are coming to Punjab (from Pakistan) has increased. It is drones that are bringing it in. That was what was concerning me because those drones that bring weapons are meant for something. They are not sent as a present here. We may capture 30 drones, but there are 20-30 that may get past us, to their objectives. I have been warning the government for a long time that Pakistan is trying to infiltrate.”
Captain Amarinder Singh also pointed out that the prospect of China and Pakistan colluding with each other in order to harm India was very likely. “These two countries are going to collude. About 20 per cent of the Indian army belongs to this area and we can’t allow their morale to go down. I think we should be very careful in our choice of putting out news which should not create a situation where the morale of our troops goes down,” he said.
While Captain Amarinder Singh too had vociferously supported the farmers of Punjab initially, he has now realised that the agitation poses a serious challenge for him both politically, as well as in terms of law-and-order maintenance. As such, Captain has distanced himself from the same and is instead focussing on his election campaign for next year.