Chandigarh, Dec 14 (PTI) The Punjab Congress on Monday held a protest near the state's Shambhu border with Haryana in support of farmers who are protesting against the Centre's new farm laws.

Several Congress MLAs from Punjab, including ministers, joined the agitation at the Shambhu border and slammed the BJP-led Centre for not acceding to the demand of farmers for repealing the laws.

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The central government came out with these laws to "destroy" the farming sector, Congress leaders alleged.

Thousands of farmers are protesting at various border points of Delhi against the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

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They are demanding that these laws, which were enacted in September, be repealed.

Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, while addressing the gathering at the Shambhu border, hit out at the Narendra Modi-led government, saying that it is trying to "impose" the new agri laws on farmers.

Farmers have completely rejected the laws and they are staying put at Delhi's borders with their demand for repealing the legislations, he said.

Jakhar also claimed that everybody in Punjab is supporting farmers in their fight against the farm legislations.

Instead of proposing amendments in the farm laws, the Union government must rollback these legislations without any further delay, he said.

Slamming the Centre for enacting the laws, Jakhar said that it was the states that have the rights to do so and asked the central government to uphold the basic spirit of the Constitution.

He accused the Centre of trying to "benefit" the corporate sector with these laws.

The idea behind implementing the "black laws" is to "economically ruin" the farmers of Punjab by denying them minimum support price, the Congress leader alleged.

Jakhra alleged that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was also "hand in glove" with the BJP for enacting these legislations. But now it is trying to show their exit from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as its "sacrifice", he said.

The SAD is not able to celebrate its 100th year of formation because of "misdeeds" of its leadership, Jakhar alleged.

The SAD had quit the BJP-led NDA over the farm laws issue in September.

Speaking on the occasion, All India Congress Committee general secretary Harish Rawat accused the Centre of attacking the federal structure by framing these laws.

He also said that farmers who give food to the nation were being projected as “Khalistanis” and “Tukde Tukde gang.”

Rawat, who is also the Congress' in-charge of Punjab affairs, said,"We are proud that we were standing with farmers.”

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal also hit out at the Centre for bringing the laws and the termed the legislations “anti-farmer”.

He also accused the Centre of waiving huge amount of loans of the corporate sector but “failing” to announce any debt waiver for poor farmers.

Ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sunder Sham Arora, Bharat Bhushan Aashu, Sadhu Singh Dharmsot, Vijay Inder Singh Singla and MPs Manish Tewari, Mohammad Sadiq and several party legislators were present at the protest.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)