New Delhi (TIP): As the eighth round of talks between the government and farmer’s unions ended inconclusively, the Opposition on Friday, January 8, hit out at the government, accusing it of trying to tire out the farmers by holding meeting after meeting.
“Our farmers are fighting for justice and deserve compassion and sensitive understanding, not merely technical reading of rules. The government and the Hon’ble Supreme Court must understand that while farmers will survive Covid, their satyagrah is for their very survival,” senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said.
Congress communication department head Randeep Surjewala said the government is trying to tire out the farmers by holding meeting after meeting. “But the farmers will neither get tired nor bow down,” Surjewala said.
Sharma said that in a free country, the farmers would have had the right to protest inside the national capital and not be stopped at the borders.
Alleging that the BJP government has crossed all limits of “cruelty” and “ruthlessness”, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said “the country has to think whether laws for farmers should emerge from their fields or in made the drawing rooms of a handful of billionaire friends of the BJP government.” She said the Congress will not back down from its demand that the laws should be repealed.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi: “Those whose intentions are not clear, it is their strategy to give one date after another.” Condemning the attitude of the government, CPI general secretary D Raja said the government must be sincere in holding talks and sensitive to the concerns of farmers. “The government remains rigid, adamant and arrogant, not accepting the demand of the farmers. It should accept the demand of farmers and repeal the three agri-laws,” he said.
Farmers’ protest in Delhi political, not part of it: Bharatiya Kisan Sangh
The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), a farmers’ body associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), came out in support of the Union government on the new farm laws in Gandhinagar on Friday saying that they are not part of the ongoing farmers’ protest on the Delhi border as it is “political” in nature.
The Sangh also announced a countrywide campaign on Republic Day to educate people on the new farm laws.
Speaking at a press conference in Gandhinagar on Friday, Mohini Mohan Mishra, national secretary of BKS, said, “We are not part of this agitation because it has given ample space to politicians to spread their agenda and these people (protestors) have no control over violence. The agitation that is going on at the Delhi border is primarily due to issues faced by the farmers of Punjab and Haryana.”
Mishra added, “We believe that the new farm laws are for the benefit of farmers across the country… especially small, landless farmers. To repeal the laws for a section of farmers (those protesting) is not a viable option. At the beginning of the farmers’ agitation, BKS was in dilemma as we could see many political figures hijacking the agitation. We told the agitating Kisan unions to not allow any political figures at their protests but today we all know the path this agitation has taken.”
The BKS also added that it has given its own set of demands to the union government on the new farm laws and said that they will hold an agitation in the future in a peaceful manner.