Facing Stiff Opposition From Farmers, Punjab Govt Withdraws Land Pooling Policy 2025

Jalandhar: Alarmed by the mounting opposition from farmers, farm labourers and the opposition, the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government on Monday (August 11) finally withdrew the contentious Land Pooling Policy 2025.

A press note issued by Principal Secretary, Department of Housing & Urban Development, Punjab read: “Government hereby withdraws the land pooling policy dated May 14, 2025 and its subsequent amendments. Consequently, all actions, like LOIs (Letter of Intent) issued, registrations done or any other action taken thereunder shall be reversed here forth.”

The press note was widely shared among farmers who hailed it as a big victory but also claimed that their protests will continue till the Punjab government officially de-notifies the policy.

Notably, this was the AAP government’s second major face off with farmers after the Bhagwant Mann government had cracked down on the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha-led farmers' protest for Minimum Support Price (MSP) law against the Union government.

Since its announcement on May 14 this year, the policy had led to a deadlock between the AAP and the farmers despite chief minister Bhagwant Mann and his ministers leaving no stone unturned in convincing the farmers.

The Punjab government had decided to acquire 65,000 acres of land from 21 cities of Punjab for major urban townships and announced residential and commercial plots for farmers, if they voluntarily gave up  their land. However farmers launched widespread protests against the policy before the government could go ahead with it.

The scale of farmers’ protest could be gauged from the fact that nearly all the villages in the state had passed resolutions against the policy. While the opposition congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) protested against the policy, the farmers held rallies, tractor marches and mahapanchayats to protest the move.

In many villages, farmers and panchayats had put up banners banning the entry of AAP workers and Punjab government officials, bringing the AAP and the BJP – which was still bearing the brunt of the now repealed three farm laws – on the same level politically.

Many AAP leaders and workers, including Mann’s paternal cousin Gian Singh Mann, had started opposing the policy while AAP’s Kisan Wing leader from Jalandhar, Jaswant Singh Mann, resigned, forcing the Mann government to reconsider its decision and roll back the policy.

Political, legal and administrative setback for AAP, expert

Chandigarh-based political commentator Mohammad Khalid termed the withdrawal of the land pooling policy as a political, administrative, and legal setback for AAP in Punjab.

“Withdrawing the policy politically means that people rejected the government’s decision, administratively it conveys that it was not a good administrative decision and legally, the AAP government could not defend itself in the court. It is a huge setback which might cast its shadow on the 2027 assembly elections," he said.

Khalid mentioned that it is not for the first time that a land pooling policy was announced. Earlier, Mohali district near Chandigarh was developed through land pooling. But the major trouble in this case was the messaging that the AAP government’s land pooling policy conveyed, he said.

“First the AAP government hurriedly brought the policy without taking farmers into confidence, then suddenly they announced its withdrawal. The message it delivered among the farmers was that the government was acting on the behalf of the land sharks and the corporates, which is damaging in every sense.”

He also said that the farmers were already angry with the AAP government for forcibly evacuating the year-long Shambhu Morcha for MSP on crops in March this year. “By implementing yet another policy against farmers, the AAP government had put itself in a tricky situation. It was evident that sooner or later, they will have to withdraw the policy,” he added.

Big victory of farmers: SKM and KMM leaders

Talking to The Wire, senior Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader and Bharti Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that the land pooling policy was an unconstitutional decision taken in haste. “This was a huge land acquiring project which affected the farmers of 164 villages of Punjab. It was but natural for the farmers to get agitated, as the policy directly affected their livelihood, existence, and identity.”

The senior farmer leader said that SKM, including all farmer unions, led the protest against the policy. “In fact, people came out on their own like the way they came during the farmers protest in Delhi. Farmers have once again proved that they stand united against any force that threatens to rob them off their livelihood and existence,” he said, adding that the AAP government rolled back the policy fearing potential political losses.

Senior SKM leader and president of BKU, Balbir Singh Rajewal, also said that while it is a big victory,  the AAP government mentally harassed the farmers for over three months. “Suddenly, the government [has] released a press note and announced that they are withdrawing the land pooling policy, but we cannot believe them. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the repeal of the three farm laws on Gurpurab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev, we had asked them to call a session in the parliament and then repeal it. It was only when the President of India signed the repeal order of farm laws that we suspended the protest.”

Rajewal said that until the AAP government issues a notification and denotifies it, the land pooling policy stands. “We have already announced a Kisan mahapanchayat on August 24 at Samrala in Ludhiana district and we are expecting a huge gathering of farmers from across Punjab," he said.

Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leader Sarwan Singh Pandher also told The Wire that it is a major win for the people of Punjab if the government has decided to withdraw the policy, but there is no official word from either AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal or Mann in this regard. “It is just a four-line press note issued by the Chief Secretary, about which many technicalities need to be cleared. Earlier this land pooling was brought in the year 2008 and then in 2013, and the government can bring it again. We need to be careful and wait for government notification against the policy”, he said.

Opposition terms it a 'victory of farmers'

Congress MLA and Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee, Olympian Pargat Singh, welcomed the Punjab government’s decision to withdraw the controversial policy and hailed it as a victory for Punjab’s farmers, labourers and every citizen who took part in the grassroots movement.

Pargat Singh was the first among opposition leaders to raise his voice against the policy and even held protests
from Jalandhar. He said, “Punjab’s land is not for sale. It is our heritage, our livelihood, and our identity. We could never allow it to be looted.”

The congress leader asserted that this rollback is not merely an administrative decision, but the moral defeat of a government that attempted to seize farmers’ land without consent and fair compensation while endangering Punjab’s social and environmental balance.

The policy, he pointed out, was designed to hand over nearly one lakh acres of land – worth thousands of crores – to private builders, destroying rural livelihoods. “The AAP government underestimated Punjab’s resolve, but the unity of our farmers, supported shoulder-to-shoulder by the Congress, compelled them to step back,” Singh claimed.

Singh had also called for an independent inquiry into all registrations and agreements made under the policy to ensure transparency and protect the rights of landowners.

Demanding an unconditional apology from AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and chief minister Bhagwant Mann for their attempt to rob Punjab of its valuable 65,000 acres of agricultural land in connivance with the land mafia, Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira said, “The unilateral withdrawal of [the] so-called Land Pooling Policy by AAP government and its greedy leaders like Arvind Kejriwal and Company is a victory of the people of Punjab, especially the farmers who opposed this nefarious policy tooth and nail. Now all leaders of AAP stand convicted in the court of people.”

Congratulating farmers for the withdrawal of the land pooling policy, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal in a video message said that the war waged by farmers, farm labourers and Punjabis in general, against the government of ‘thugs’ led by Arvind Kejriwal, forced them to withdraw the policy.

“I had already said that the AAP government will have to roll back this policy and they did it. The AAP government had to kneel before the people’s struggle. I am glad that the collective protests of the farmers, the financially weaker section, all Punjabis, and the SAD workers finally saved Punjab”, Badal added.

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