New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Raghav Chadha Sunday accused Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh of colluding with the Narendra Modi government by asking farmers to accept Union home minister Amit Shah’s proposal for a discussion on their demands.
Chadha said it is unfortunate that the BJP government is labelling the protesting farmers as “terrorists” and “criminals”.
“The way Amarinder has been dancing to the tunes of PM Modi and Amit Shah, it seems that he is a BJP chief minister. At a time when farmers are fighting for their rights, Amit Shah and the BJP government is denying them permission (to protest) and wants to trap them. The nexus between the Punjab CM and BJP government became crystal clear as soon after Amit Shah made the statement on Friday asking the farmers to accept his proposal, Amarinder Singh, too, urged the farmers to give in to the demands of the Modi government and accept their proposal,” Chadha said.
Chadha also questioned why Punjab’s CM did not lead the protest. “If Amarinder cares so much, then why didn’t he come with the protesting farmers? Imagine if the CM would have walked along with the farmers, would they have been tear-gassed or would water cannons be fired by the BJP government? But he preferred to stay in his air-conditioned farmhouse. He did not join the protests as he is a BJP CM and not Punjab CM,” the AAP leader said.
On Saturday, Shah had appealed to farmers to shift their protests to the Burari ground in the national capital. He also said that the Centre will hold talks with the farmers’ unions on 3 December.
Chadha also said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has given instructions to party leaders to ensure all help is extended to farmers, including food and lodging facilities. “Desh ka jawan border pe lad raha hai aur desh ka kisan apne haq ke liye roads pe (The soldiers of the country are fighting at the border and farmers are fighting for their rights on the streets),” he added.
In a tweet, Kejriwal said the central government should talk to farmers immediately.
केंद्र सरकार किसानों से तुरंत बिना शर्त बात करे।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) November 29, 2020
Several farmers’ organisations, mostly in Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against the central government’s new farm laws.
Thousands of protesting farmers entered Haryana Thursday from various entry points at its border with Punjab, braving water cannons and tear gas shells during their ‘Dilli Chalo’ rally.
Also read: Shambles over farmers’ protest shows Modi-Shah BJP needs a Punjab tutorial
Government’s ‘warfare tactics’
Chadha also criticised the BJP government for not letting farmers cross the Delhi-Haryana border by digging up roads and firing water cannons.
“These warfare tactics of digging up roads are now being used not for our enemy but our ‘annadata‘, our farmers. Is a country’s farmer a terrorist? Why is the government treating them like that? This protest is a revolution, it is inquilab, and no one should try and give it a political colour. These farmers are fighting for their rights and we are with them. We will extend all help possible to them,” he added.
The AAP leader said the Punjab government, especially the CM, is trying to mislead the farmers as when the farm laws were being drafted, the Centre had invited Amarinder Singh’s government. “Captain Amarinder had said that we are with the three laws at that time,” Chadha said.
Also read: Farmers’ protest a big challenge for Modi. Bigger than demonetisation, GST
‘Reconsider farm laws’
Other political leaders, too, asked the central government to take a relook at the laws.
In a tweet Sunday, Mayawati said, “Farmers across the country are furious and agitated over the three agriculture-related laws that the central government recently brought in. Keeping this in view, it would be better if the Union government does a rethink on these laws that were legislated without the consent of the farmers.”
केन्द्र सरकार द्वारा कृषि से सम्बन्धित हाल में लागू किए गए तीन कानूनों को लेकर अपनी असहमति जताते हुए पूरे देश में किसान काफी आक्रोशित व आन्दोलित भी हैं। इसके मद्देनजर, किसानों की आम सहमति के बिना बनाए गए, इन कानूनों पर केन्द्र सरकार अगर पुनर्विचार कर ले तो बेहतर।
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) November 29, 2020
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav Saturday said, “If farmers are left to the market and big players, they will never benefit.”
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said it was an insult that farmers were being “treated like terrorists”.
Also read: BJP alleges Khalistani agenda behind farmer protests, says Congress playing with fire
Leftists and communists seem to be on full on mode, This is what they do best, create trouble, bring in pyajama clad activists , create phot-ops and write all day about the commotion they have created in their own journals.