Chandigarh: The Governor’s address on the opening day of the Punjab assembly budget session on Friday was marred by the Congress walkout over the police action against farmers and the brutal assault of an Army colonel and his son by a group of Punjab policemen, who were reported to have been heavily drunk, in Patiala last week.
#WATCH | Chandigarh: On protesting farmers removed from Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border, Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan says, "It's just the road that has been cleared. This was becoming an obstacle for the youth of Punjab, for farmers of Punjab, for the import and… pic.twitter.com/TSs5WvlzFG
— ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2025
Chandigarh: LoP in Punjab Partap Singh Bajwa, announced the Congress boycott of the Governor’s address in the Punjab Assembly, citing concerns over farmers' treatment and police brutality
— IANS (@ians_india) March 21, 2025
He criticized Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann for silence on the assault of a Colonel and his son… pic.twitter.com/NUA9jP0A5u
VIDEO | Congress on Friday boycotted the Governor's address on the opening day of the budget session of Punjab Assembly in protest over state government's crackdown on farmers. Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa, who is Leader of Opposition in Assembly, slammed the AAP government… pic.twitter.com/3iI1Hv7dG4
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 21, 2025
#WATCH | Chandigarh | Punjab Minister Harpal Singh Cheema says, "The budget session of the Punjab assembly has commenced today. The Governor of Punjab Gulab Chand Kataria talked about the achievements of the Punjab government...There was a discussion on it...Congress party does… pic.twitter.com/XjSxnXK2lF
— ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2025
It may be recalled that the Punjab police had detained several farm leaders including Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher in Mohali on Wednesday while they were returning from their meeting with Central delegations led by three Union ministers over farmers demands including minimum support price (MSP) and debt waiver.
The police subsequently also evicted the farmers from the Shambhu and Khanauri protest sites and getting cleared the stretches of national highways blocked due to the farmers' protests for over a year. The police also allegedly force and lathicharged after some groups of the farmers protested against the same on Wednesday as well as Thursday.
Led by leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, the Congress legislators raised slogans against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and entered the Well of the House amid Governor Gulab Chand Kataria’s address.
It was barely a few minutes after the governor started his address, Bajwa got up to seek his attention over the issues mentioned above. However, when the governor continued to read his speech, Bajwa and other Congress MLAs, who displayed placards flaying chief minister Bhagwant Mann government, entered the Well of the House and started raising slogans against the AAP government. They continued raising slogans for a few minutes before staging the walkout.
Later, briefing newspersons, Bajwa, who was accompanied by senior party MLAs Pargat Singh and Sukhpal Khaira demanded an inquiry by a sitting or retired high court judge into the assault of Col Pushpinder Singh Bath and his 22-year son Angad by 12 cops of Punjab police in Patiala about a week ago. Regretting that neither AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal nor chief minister Mann had uttered a word about the incident, the Congress members demanded the arrest and dismissal of the cops.