New Delhi: Hitting out at the opposition for “misleading farmers” on the agriculture reform bills, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said “these people” (opposition parties) opposed every decision — from procuring Rafale fighter jets to strengthen the Air Force to conducting surgical strikes — taken by his government.
Referring to several reforms related to farmers and labourers that were passed during the recently concluded Parliament session, Modi said that the nation can see how some people are opposing them just for the sake of it.
“Farmers can now sell their produce to anyone, anywhere. But when the Centre is giving farmers their rights, these people are opposing it. They don’t want farmers to sell their produce in an open market, they want middlemen to earn profit. They’re opposing the freedom of farmers,” he said.
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‘Every decision opposed’
During the inauguration of six mega projects under the Namami Ganga programme in Uttarakhand, the PM brought the national security angle to buttress how every decision taken by his government — from farm reform bills to procuring Rafale, conducting surgical strikes to destroying terror bases, implementing GST to undertaking ground breaking ceremony of Ram temple at Ayodhya — has been opposed by the parties (Congress-led opposition), without naming them.
The PM said that for years, “these people” did not do anything to empower the security forces.
“The Air Force kept asking for modern fighter aircraft but they kept ignoring them. When our government signed a contract with France government for Rafale aircraft they started having a problem. They did not want our Air Force to get Rafale…. I am happy that Rafale is adding strength to Indian Air Force.”
He added that the same thing happened four years ago, when soldiers carried out surgical strikes and destroyed terror bases in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“These people (opposition) were demanding evidence of surgical strike. By opposing surgical strike, they’ve cleared their intention before the country,” Modi said.
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Opposition ‘misleading farmers’ on MSP
Modi also said that the opposition is insulting farmers by setting fire to machines and equipment worshipped by them.
“For years they said that they will implement MSP (Minimum Support Price) but they never did. This was done by our government as per the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission,” he said.
He also said the opposition was now trying to mislead the farmers over MSP. Reiterating that the government is not doing away with the MSP regime, the PM said, “There will not only be MSP in the country but also the freedom for farmers to sell their produce anywhere. But some people are unable to tolerate this freedom. Their one more medium to earn black income is finished.”
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