Several BJP leaders have spoken of a link between Khalistan and the farmers’ protests.
As the ruling BJP faces a massive outcry from farmers who have threatened to blockade Delhi and sit on the road in their agitation against the new farm laws, the party’s head of social media has alleged a link between “Khalistan and Maoist.”
Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s IT cell, accused the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi of first notifying the central agricultural laws and then seizing the opportunity to “burn Delhi” as “Khalistanis and Maoists” had intervened to oppose to them. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) responded by saying that the BJP was “desperately trying to divert attention” from the people as it had no idea how to handle the protests.
“Arvind Kejriwal, led by the Delhi government, already notified the new agricultural laws on November 23, 2020 and started implementing them. But now that the Khalistanis and Maoists have stepped in to oppose it, he sees an opportunity to burn Delhi. it was about farmers. Just politics … “tweeted Malviya, who was also recently appointed in charge of the BJP in Bengal.
Arvind Kejriwal, led by the Delhi government, already notified the new agricultural laws on November 23, 2020 and started implementing them.
But now that the Khalistanis and Maoists have stepped in to oppose it, he sees an opportunity to burn down Delhi.
It was never about farmers. Just politics … pic.twitter.com/s5gMq9z8oW
– Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 30, 2020
In response, AAP said in a statement: “The Delhi government notification allows farmers to sell their harvest anywhere, even outside Mandi. The sale of fruits and vegetables was already deregulated in Delhi many years ago. Now this is applies to cereals as well. We have not dismantled the mandis and they continue. Farmers are not against that. The demand of the farmers is that they must obtain the minimum support price (MSP), either inside or outside the Mandi. We support that demand. “
AAP leader Raghav Chaddha said: “If supporting farmers at this time is political, we are guilty of doing it. This matter can be resolved in a minute by the center.”
Several BJP leaders, including Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar, have spoken out about a Khalistan link to the five-day protests by farmers over new laws that the center says will bring reforms to the agricultural sector and improve profits. of farmers by allowing them to sell anywhere in the country. Thousands of farmers say they will not move from roads near Delhi unless the center cancels the laws, which they say deprive them of guaranteed minimum prices for their produce.
“We have input from some of those unwanted elements in the crowd. We have reports, we will release them once it’s concrete. They raised those slogans. In videos they said ‘jab Indira Gandhi ko ye kar sakte hain, toh Modi ko kyu nahi kar sakte (If we can do this to Indira Gandhi, why can’t (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi?) Khattar told reporters, referring to the unverified videos in circulation.
The Khalistan movement of Sikh separatists saw Punjab in the grip of insurgency in the 1980s. In 1984, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards months after the army stormed the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine, to drive out armed separatists.
BJP leaders say protesters shout “pro Pakistan and pro Khalistan” slogans and that the agitation “appears to have been hijacked.”
“Farmers have nothing to do with it. He has been kidnapped by terrorists and anti-national forces. People who come in flashy cars and in bright clothes cannot be farmers,” said a BJP Uttarakhand leader, Dushyant Kumar Gautam.
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