Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has by now gained a reputation for his reassuring speeches to the public. The skill was on display on July 31, two weeks after the first wave of floods wreaked havoc in Punjab. Addressing farmers in Dhuri in the Malwa region, which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept in the 2021 Assembly polls, Mann said, “Worry not … I will compensate you for everything … for your crop, labour, cattle, sheep or hen that you may have lost. Do not worry, I have the funds. I do not have to go begging to the Centre.” He added the compensation would reach the farmers by August 15. The state experienced one of its most severe floods in decades this monsoon, affecting 20 out of its 23 districts and claiming 65 lives. During the first wave of floods in early July, over 50 villages in Jalandhar district were marooned along with parts of the Malwa region. All of Punjab rallied behind the affected villages with volunteers coming from afar to repair the dhussi bandhs (embankments). With AAP MP and environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal leading the repair work of the dhussi bandhs and the CM urging the administration to give him all the support, the surging waters seemed like an easily surmountable challenge. With politicians posting a stream of pictures every day, the floods have been playing out on social media. Pictures of Jai Inder Kaur — the daughter of former CM and BJP leader Captain Amarinder Singh — in waist-deep waters in Patiala and Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains in bed after a snakebite went viral. But as rains continue to fill up the two dams of Bhakra Nangal and Pong—the latter recorded its all-time high inflow of 7.30 lakh cusecs on August 14- and compensation eludes farmers whose fields continue to be inundated, the Punjabi can-do spirit is being replaced with angry desperation. It’s visible on the faces of farmers who are sitting on agitation at several places in the state. Experts are questioning the storage policy of these two dams, the illegal encroachments that caused over 100 breaches, and the shoddy state of the dhussi bandhs (concrete embankments), while farmers fume over compensation. Sarwan Singh Pandher who is the chief of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), which remained openly defiant throughout the farm agitation, tried to lead a march of 16 unions to Chandigarh on August 22 but was thwarted by large-scale arrests, including his own. On August 21, a farmer died in a clash with the police at Longowal in Mann’s constituency Sangrur. Some farmers had attempt-to-murder charges filed against them (they were subsequently withdrawn) after the clash. The farmers are demanding a central grant of Rs 50,000 crore for the flood-hit areas and a compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre. Though state Revenue and Rehabilitation Minister Brahm Shanker Jhimpa released a tranche of Rs 186.12 crore to 16 districts on August 21, farmers are saying it is too little and too late. The preventive arrests, delayed compensation, and attempt-to-murder charges have left a bitter aftertaste. Some leaders wondered why the state government cracked the whip when they were making demands of the Centre. The scenario has also given the Shiromani Akali Dal of the Badals and the Congress an opportunity to hit out at the AAP. Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa has labelled the death of the farmer a murder, and the preventive arrests an act of an authoritarian regime. Addressing an Akali Dal protest rally seeking damages earlier this week, party president Sukhbir Badal said, “Make sure you get compensated for even the chicken you may have eaten, for every egg lost … Do not let the government get away.’’ The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella organisation of unions that spearheaded the farm agitation on the border of Delhi for a year, has called a meeting on the issue on September 2.
