V P Singh asks Punjab farmers, workers to unite for polls

Ludhiana, Jan 21 (UNI) Jan Morcha leader and former Prime Minister V P Singh today called upon the farmers and the working class to unite and demonstrate their strength in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha polls.

''The time has come for the farmers and the workers, including those in the agricultural and industrial sectors, to join hands and end their exploitation at the hands of political parties,'' he said, addressing a party rally here.

''The farmer and the workers should only vote for those candidates who promise to work for their interests,'' he said in an appeal to the large number of migrant labourers in this industrial town of Punjab, adding they should asert themselves in the current polls in the state.

''It is the farmer and the worker who is responsible for the progress taking place in the country'', he added.

Reminding the people at the rally that the Jan Morcha had started a movement to protect the interests of the agricultural community, Mr Singh said that capitalists were gradually encroaching upon the land owned by the farmers. ''The farmers are not being paid market rates for their land being taken over for industrial use, he said, noting that this problem had taken roots in Punjab too.

The government should frame concrete rules on land acquisition so that the displaced farmers and their families are properly rehablitated, he said. A farmer should have the right to determine the price of the land he sells and not the government, he added.

Without refering to any political parties, Mr Singh appealed to the voters in Punjab to vote for secular and nationalist forces.

Separatists should be rejected by the voter, he added.

Cine star and Lok Sabha member Raj Babbar, who was also present, also called upon the 'mazdoors' (workers) to demonstrate their strength in the assembly elections. He sought to remind the migrant workers that in Mumbai, politicians had now begun to woo the non-Maharashtrian voters after they united and demonstrated their strength.

Former state assembly Speaker Mr Ravi Inder Singh, who heads the newly formed party Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), was also present at the rally. The has expressed his keeness to forge an alliance with the Jan Morcha in the assembly polls.

UNI