Bid to displace Sikh farmers in UP wrong: Punjab CM

Chandigarh, June 16 (IANS) Taking cognisance of reported attempts by the Uttar Pradesh government to displace more than 30,000 Sikh farmers by taking over their land, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said he would take up the issue with his counterpart Yogi Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Amarinder Singh expressed concern over media reports suggesting that the Sikh families were being displaced after living in Uttar Pradesh for three generations.

“If the reports were correct, it was undoubtedly a matter of worry,” said the Chief Minister, adding any such act was against the federal structure of India and its Constitutional polity, which gave every Indian the freedom to live in any part of the country.

As per available accounts, these families had been settled in the districts of Rampur, Bijnor and Lakhimpur for three generations now, and had even received proprietorship rights from the Uttar Pradesh government back in 1980, said Amarinder Singh, questioning the rationale behind the reported attempts to dislocate them and push them out of their homes.

–IANS

vg/vd