AAP silent after BJP targets Kejriwal on farm law notified by Delhi govt amid protests

BJP leaders Manoj Tiwari & Naveen Kumar share screenshots of Delhi govt notification, dated 23 November, which allows farmers to trade produce outside APMC mandis.

Protesting farmers at the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and leaders from his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been critical of the three new farm laws promulgated by the central government, but the Delhi government had notified one of these farm laws last month.

Accusing the Kejriwal government of changing their colours “faster than a chameleon”, BJP’s Manoj Tiwari and media department head Naveen Kumar shared screenshots of the Delhi government notification on their Twitter timelines Monday night.

Dated 23 November and undersigned by Sanjay Goel, vice chairman, Directorate of Agricultural Marketing, Delhi, the gazette notification was issued on a day when Punjab farmers had threatened to hold the national capital hostage with their protests.

अरे मुख्यमंत्री @ArvindKejriwal जी आपने #FarmersBill2020 दिल्ली में 23 November को लागू कर दिया तो ये बता तो दो सबको..झूठे ही आपके MLA भाग दौड़ कर रहें है. #ISupportFarmerBill pic.twitter.com/xjiv6CZEP4

— Manoj Tiwari (@ManojTiwariMP) November 30, 2020

गिरगिट से भी तेज रंग बदलने मे माहिर @ArvindKejriwal ने दिल्ली में नया कृषि बिल 23 Nov 2020 को लागू कर दिया था

लेकिन अब कृषि बिल के ख़िलाफ़ पंजाब के किसानों के नाम पर विरोध कर रहे है।

ये सब कनाडा से लेकर अमेरिका तक से चंदा देने वाले खालिस्तानियो के दवाब कर रही है @AamAadmiParty pic.twitter.com/3QoMmc68aN

— Naveen Kumar (@naveenjindalbjp) November 30, 2020

 

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance 2020 allows trade of food grains and poultry outside the premises of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis, which are state-controlled bodies.

The farm laws, passed by the Union government in September, triggered protests by farmer almost immediately, which have now resulted in thousands of them camping at the borders Delhi shares with Haryana. Farmers claim the new laws make them vulnerable to exploitation by corporate companies.

While the central government has been tackling the protests, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, AAP leaders and MLAs have extended support to the agitating farmers.

ThePrint reached Kejriwal and deputy CM Manish Sisodia through text messages, calls and email for a comment on the issue but didn’t receive a response till the time of publishing this report.

ThePrint also reached several senior AAP leaders, including Atishi and Raghav Chadha, both of whom have spoken about the farmers’ protest, but didn’t receive a response.

‘Delhi govt order doesn’t have any adverse effect’

The Delhi government ordinance allows trade of food grains and poultry outside the APMC mandi premises. Kejriwal had called the same legislation ‘anti farmer’ when the central government promulgated it in September.

However, the APMC chairman in the Delhi government says the order does not really bring any large scale changes in the national capital since Delhi has been allowing the sale of fruits and vegetables outside APMCs since 2014. What the new central government legislation does is allow farmers to also sell food grains and poultry outside their designated mandis.

“Even before Arvind Kejriwal came into power, sale of fruits and vegetables was always allowed in Delhi outside our mandis, so this won’t have any adverse effect,” APMC chairman Adeel Ahmed Khan told ThePrint.

Khan added that the Delhi government notification, in fact, further redefines market areas for APMCs located at Najafgarh, Narela and Ghazipur.

ThePrint reached Delhi Agriculture Minister Gopal Rai, who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, but did not receive a response from his office either. AAP MP Sanjay Singh and senior leader and spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj also did not respond to calls or text messages.

The Congress also targeted the Delhi government over the issue, with Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Anil Kumar Chaudhary saying: “Kejriwal logon ko gumrah karne mein lage hue hain (Kejriwal is busy misleading people)”.

Speaking to ThePrint, he said, “if Kejriwal is really for the cause of farmers’ protest, then why did his party notify a law that the Prime Minister and Amit Shah are in favour of … If he really cared about their cause, then why doesn’t he call for a meeting or baithak with them instead of urging the PM to do so. He is only playing politics.”