Chandigarh, April 28, 2013: The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today cautioned the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh against what he described as “a serious conflagration of social disorder, anarchy and economic crisis” in the event of Wealth Tax being levied on agriculture lands in the country.
In a letter spelling out “the details of the ruinous decision in this regard, “Badal requested the Prime Minister’s personal, immediate and effective intervention to ensure that agriculture lands is not brought under the ambit of Wealth Tax Act.
Badal has also made similar request to the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and other Union Ministries directly or indirectly related to this issue.
Simultaneously, the Chief Minister today unleashed a broad-based nation-wide initiative to build a “political and social” consensus against imposition of wealth tax on agriculture lands.
Badal today wrote separate letters to leaders of all national and regional political parties, including their Members of Parliament, urging them to oppose this move in and outside the Parliament.
The Chief Minster has also written separately to Chief Ministers of all states in the country urging his counterparts to oppose the imposition of this tax as it would sound “a death knell of the already beleaguered peasantry and of others dependent directly or indirectly on agriculture. This would also lead to widespread economic devastation of and unrest among agriculture labour and trade, business and industry establishments and persons directly or indirectly linked to agriculture.”
Giving details of the “comprehensive and unprecedented initiative launched by Badal, Chief Minister’s Advisor on National Affairs Harcharan Bains told newspersons here this afternoon that there has been an overwhelming response cutting across political spectrum to the CM’s efforts. Bains said that there is a growing realisation among the leaders approached so far by Badal about that wealth tax on agriculture would affect not only farmers but a whole range of economic activity.
Badal has pointed out to political parties and leaders that the impact of this decision would be felt also in small and medium traders dealing with retail of farm produce such as atta, grain, pulses or vegetable or manufacturers of agriculture implements, tools, and machinery. Further, this would also seriously impact producers and retailers of fertilisers, pesticides and other items used as agricultural inputs.
Bains likened Badal’s pro-active initiative on the issue to the historic initiative against Emergency in June 1975.” The issue has implications which are as serious, if not more, as those of the imposition of internal Emergency by Late Indira Gandhi, said the CM’s Advisor.
The Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also the President of the SAD, are awaiting a response to their request for personal audience with the Prime Minister on this issue. They are likely to meet the PM on April 30 or May 1, though no date has yet been finalised.
In his separate letters to the PM and other leaders and Chief Ministers, Badal has highlighted the real and potential dangers of Wealth Tax on agriculture. “Such would be the debilitating impact of the wealth tax on agriculture that it would even hit banking activities in a big way as neither farming nor any of its direct or indirect subsidiary economic activities would be able to survive. No farmer would even want to retain agriculture as it would be totally unsustainable under unbearable impact of the wealth tax burden. This in fact would mean “end of agriculture and therefore of food production,” Badal has told national and regional political leaders with whom he has been interacting telephonically over the past three to four days.
Badal described the imposition of this tax as a ‘an extremely dangerous step’. He has pointed out that every farmer would have to pay wealth tax in the range of Rs. 30,000 to 70,000 per acre annually whereas the annual agriculture production of the farmer was far much less than this tax.
This would lead to alarming discontent and unrest across the country. He said Centre should reconsider its impending implications of law and order situation as it could provide a breeding ground for Naxalism and put the national security in peril. The Chief Minister was also likely to call on the BJP National President Rajnath Singh, President of Janta Dal United and Convener of NDA Sharad Yadav, President of Samajvadi Party Mulayam Singh Yadav besides Janta Dal Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and several leaders of the regional and national political parties to enlist their support of the farmers cause thereby mounting pressure on the ruling UPA government at Centre to shelve this dangerous move without any further delay.
It may be recalled that the core committee of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) under the Chairmanship of Party President Sukhbir Singh Badal in an emergency meeting on April 25 had passed a resolution for convening a special session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha on May 3. The Core Committee also decided that the party and its alliance partner the Bhartiya Janata Party would hold statewide Dharnas at district headquarters from11 am to 1 pm on May 2. All ministers, senior leaders, MPs, MLAs, Zila and Circle Jathedars of the SAD and other office bearers of both parties will lead thousands of workers and farmers at the dharnas, added Bains.