After Akali Dal severed ties with the ruling BJP, another ally threatened to quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over farm laws. In a tweet addressed to Interior Minister Amit Shah, Rajasthan MP Hanuman Beniwal, head of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), has demanded the removal of three new agricultural laws at the center of mass protests by farmers near Delhi.
Beniwal also urged the BJP-led central government to speak to farmers immediately instead of Thursday, when a second round of ministerial talks on the protests was scheduled.
“Mr. Amit Shah, in view of the sentiment across the country in support of the ongoing farmers movement, the three recently introduced bills related to agriculture should be withdrawn immediately. (The center should) implement all the Commission’s recommendations. Swaminathan and have an immediate dialogue with farmers in Delhi, “tweeted Beniwal, whose RLP counts farmers among its biggest supporters.
“The RLP is a component of the NDA, but its power comes from the farmers and the Jawans. If swift action is not taken on this matter, I will have to rethink the question of being a partner in the NDA in the interests of the farmers,” added.
The Beniwal threat comes after the BJP lost one of its oldest allies, Shiromani Akali Dal, to the passage of farm laws in September.
The RLP has a huge support base among the Jats, a politically powerful farming community with lands in the 10-15 Lok Sabha of Rajasthan. The party had contested the last Rajasthan elections in alliance with the BJP.
Beniwal also said that neighboring state governments, including BJP-ruled Haryana, should not adopt any oppressive policies against farmers.
“If the police and governments adopt an oppressive policy against farmers, the RLP will hold demonstrations across the country, including Rajasthan, in favor of farmers,” he had said on Thursday.
He had previously hinted that he would join the Delhi protest with hundreds of thousands of Rajasthan farmers.
The BJP-led central government faces increasing pressure from partners, former allies and opposition parties to address the demands of farmers who, as a continuation of their months-long protest, have been camping along the borders. from Delhi for five days, effectively isolating the city from all sides.
Interior Minister Amit Shah met with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday for the second time within 24 hours after farmers protesting the laws rejected the Center’s proposal for early talks on the condition to move your protest to the place in North Delhi.
The farmers said the government should have approached them with “an open heart” and should not have set conditions.
They fear that the suggested protest site will turn into a jail. “The Delhi police told the head of the Uttarakhand Farmers Association that they would take them to Jantar Mantar, but instead they locked them up in Burari Park,” said Surjeet Phul, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union.
For almost three months, farmers have been in arms against laws aimed at carrying out reforms by cutting out middlemen and improving farmers’ profits by allowing them to sell products anywhere in the country.
Farmers and opposition parties argue that the laws will deprive farmers of a guaranteed minimum price for their produce and leave them at the mercy of companies.
The BJP-led central government maintains that opposition parties are misleading farmers, who have repeatedly said that their movement is completely independent.
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