Opposition parties on Thursday attacked the government for its handling of farmers’ protests against the three contentious farm laws, saying that the BJP ministers believe in the monologue and that trenches have been dug, barbed wires in place and picks in place when bridges should have been built to win over farmers.
Sanjay Singh, who was between three AAP leaders drawn from Rajya Sabha on Wednesday for the rebellious behavior, today he attacked the central government saying that farmers are being accused of lathi, called traitors, terrorists and Khalistanis.
“The talks happened 11 times, all of them failed. The government claims to be a phone call away, but it doesn’t bother, ”he told the Rajya Sabha. Noting that some 165 farmers have lost their lives in the past 76 days, Singh appealed to the Modi government to “have mercy and repeal the three black laws.”
Expressing solidarity with the protesting farmers, Trinamool leader Derek O’Brien accused the central government of failing India on many levels while claiming that the Center “did not uphold the sanctity of Parliament due to its arrogance.”
Former Prime Minister and JD (S) leader HD Deve Gowda called farmers the backbone of the country and said that evildoers and anti-social elements were behind the Republic Day events and that all political parties have condemned their actions and agree that they should be punished. .
Stating that farmers are not responsible for the violence, he said they should not be punished. He added that the Center’s decision to place concrete walls at the protest sites will not help and called on the government to put an end to the matter peacefully.
Gowda said that the issue of farm laws is a state issue and the opinion of the state government should also be taken.
Opening the second day of discussion on a motion thanking the president for his speech in the joint session of Parliament at the start of the budget session, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD said that the government has lost patience to listen and any criticism will be it looks like anti-national.
“With folded hands, I ask you to understand the pain of farmers. In the harsh winter, he stopped the water supply and sanitation facilities, dug trenches, put up barbed wire and installed spikes, ”he said. “You have not even heard of such an aggressive approach towards neighboring nations that entered (Indian territory).”
In response to a tweet from a pop star Rihanna on the farmers’ protestHe said democracy will not be weakened by a tweet but by the government’s approach.
“Your backbone is the farmer. 303 (seats won in the last general elections) did not come from cold rooms or drawers but from these same people, ”Jha said in an evening reference to the cold storage chain and buggies built by private companies such as Adani Group. “We will support them, but all the worlds against them are not anti-national. Patriotism is not worn on the sleeves but in the heart ”, he said in his speech loaded with poetry and sarcasm.
In addition to noting that 11 rounds of discussion carried out by the government have failed, he said that his ministers “believe in monologue and not in dialogue.”
“They talk of having given this and that to the peasants, but there is no place for the language of charity in a democracy. The monologues should end, ”he said in Parliament.
Jha also pointed out that protesting farmers and critics have been painted as ‘khalistanis’, ‘naxals’ and ‘Pakistani agents’ and their citizens clashed with each other as has agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
“You have lost the patience to listen, you just dictate,” he said. “Governments are formed to build bridges, but you have built walls,” he added, echoing the leader of Congress Rahul Gandhi.
He said that when trenches were dug, barbed wire erected and spikes installed to insulate farmers, basic facilities such as water supplies and toilets were removed.
“Who are you fighting with? They are their own farmers, ”he said. “The country is not made up of police, arm, Jan gan man and Vande Mataram. The country is made of relationships and you have messed them up ”.
Claiming that Bihar now only has contract workers and not farmers, after it ended minimum support price (MSP) In 2006, Jha asked: “Bihar has become a labor supply state. Do you want Bihar model in Punjab and Haryana? “
Digvijaya Singh from Congress also lashed out at the BJP government saying that from demonetization to CAA they were mistakes that hit people hard.
Quoting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said that “demonetization was monumental mismanagement, organized loot and legalized blunder.”
Calling the three agricultural laws “anti-farmers”, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lost the confidence of farmers and that even Bharatiya Kisan Sangh was opposed to some of the government’s measures and mocked him asking if he wanted to keep relations with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
In a democracy, he said, if people’s feelings are seen as revolution, then it is autocracy. “You have a majority, but dissent is the essence of democracy,” Digvijaya Singh said.
Meanwhile, police prevented 15 MPs from 10 opposition parties, including SAD, DMK, NCP and the Trinamool Congress, from reaching the Ghazipur border on Thursday to meet with farmers protesting against the new farm laws.
(With PTI inputs)
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