Azad claimed that the Center wants to “destroy farmers with these three laws.”
New Delhi:
Bhim’s Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad joined agitated farmers who have been camping outside Delhi on Tuesday in pressing for their demand to repeal the Center’s agricultural laws. In an interview with NDTV, he said the team will extend its support “from outside” while the protest will be led by farmers. Azad, an emerging Dalit leader in Uttar Pradesh politics, criticized the Center for using water cannons and tear gas against farmers marching to the national capital from Punjab last week, saying the government is “afraid” of the movement. of farmers.
“The Center tried to smear and stop the agitation of the farmers … Our mothers, children, the elderly were arrested (from marching to Delhi) with water cannons, barbed wire, tear gas … they (farmers) did not They are terrorists, they are the backbone of our country. We get food thanks to them … That treatment (of farmers) shows the fear that the government has of the farmers’ movement, “he said.
Farmers on Sunday turned down the Center’s offer of advance talks that depended on the condition that the protests move to a government-designated location in Burari, outside Delhi. However, they accepted the invitation of the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar to hold “unconditional” talks on Tuesday.
“They (the government) are speaking because they thought that farmers would not come to Delhi. Where should farmers go if they cannot come to the national capital? … Now they are witnessing the greatest power of democracy: the opposition,” added.
Azad claimed that the Center wants to “destroy farmers with these three laws.”
He claimed that the government wants to seize the lands of the farmers and give them to the industrialists.
Last week, thousands of Punjab farmers marched towards Delhi, defying police milk charges, water cannons and tear gas shells along the way. The Center, which watches over the law and order of the national capital, prevented them from entering the city, and later said that the protests moved to the designated place.
Yet tireless farmers continue to camp on Delhi’s various borders, blocking crucial roads.
The Center’s new laws allow farmers to sell their crops outside of designated farmers markets, which was previously illegal, cutting out the middlemen. Farmers say certain provisions of the laws will make them susceptible to exploitation by corporate companies.
Tomar, his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal and junior industry minister Som Prakash are currently meeting with the 35-member team of farmers to resolve the deadlock.
.
