AAP MP Malvinder Kang urges dialogue with Punjab farmers over Land Pooling Policy amid rising protests and fears of land loss.
CHANDIGARH: AAP Rajya Sabha MP Malvinder Singh Kang has called on AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to engage in meaningful dialogue with farmer organisations over the controversial Land Pooling Policy. Kang’s remarks come amid growing resentment among Punjab’s farming community over the policy, which they fear may adversely affect agricultural ownership and land rights.
Kang, who had earlier quit the BJP in 2019 over the farm laws pushed by the then Modi-led central government, and was later re-inducted, now finds himself urging his current party leadership to ensure farmers are heard. In a tweet posted this morning, he acknowledged the objections being raised by farmer unions and stressed the need to address their concerns with empathy.
“The objections raised by farmer unions on the Land Pooling Policy must, in my view, be heard with empathy and addressed through meaningful dialogue,” Kang wrote, while highlighting the steps taken by the Mann government in the past three years to support the agricultural sector. He cited uninterrupted agri-power, canal water supply to fields, rapid mandi reforms, and crop diversification initiatives as key achievements.
However, Kang added a cautionary note, stating that “trust must be earned—not assumed—before any policy takes root.” His appeal comes at a crucial juncture, as farmer groups across the state have started mobilising protests, alleging that the Land Pooling Policy is a backdoor attempt to centralise or urbanise fertile agricultural land under the guise of development.
While the Punjab government has thus far defended the policy as a progressive step aimed at planned urban expansion and infrastructure development, Kang’s public statement signals possible discontent within the party ranks and raises questions about internal consensus on sensitive agrarian matters.
Farmer unions have already begun planning wider agitation if the government does not roll back or modify the policy. They argue that the mechanism risks disempowering small and marginal farmers, who may lose control over their ancestral land due to unclear clauses in the policy draft.
As Kang positions himself in favour of farmer dialogue, his intervention is likely to place pressure on the Mann government to either open formal negotiations with farmer leaders or revisit certain provisions in the policy before implementation.
The Punjab unit of the Aam Aadmi Party has not yet issued a formal response to Kang's tweet. However, political observers view his message as both a warning and a recommendation rooted in his past political experience with farm issues and a signal that AAP’s rural support base should not be taken for granted.
