Amritsar, Jan 26: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today alleged the policy of successive Congress governments' at the Centre had undermined the federal structure of India's constitution by usurping powers of states.
Addressing a gathering here after unfurling the national flag on the Republic day, he said framers of the constitution had envisaged a federal structure in the country for ensuring the well-being of all sections of society but “the policy of the successive Congress governments at the Centre to usurp the powers of the states has today turned India into a unitary state”.
“Our great freedom fighters and patriots had laid down their lives during freedom struggle for ensuring the welfare of countrymen but it was unfortunate that the unitary structure of governance in country has given birth to a number of problems due to which the dreams of our forefathers still remains unfulfilled”, Badal said.
Citing an example of alleged infringement of states' right by the union government and its “serious” repercussions, the Chief Minister said that as per the constitution agriculture was a state subject “but now grabbing it the Centre was fixing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of crops and finalizing the prices of diesel and fertilizers besides other agriculture inputs due to which the agonies of farmers have increased manifold.”
