Updated: December 14, 2020 7:46:50 am
He was speaking to the media in Mumbai on the eve of the two-day winter session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly that begins Monday. (Archive)
Accusing him of ruling the country in “Tughlaqi style,” Maharashtra Prime Minister Uddhav Thackeray took on the Center on Sunday over his handling of the farmers protest while affirming that it is not in “our culture to call our country’s food suppliers anti-national and terrorists.”
Holding that the country cannot be governed by unreasonable dictates, Uddhav told the media: “The BJP claims that there is an undeclared Emergency in Maharashtra. If so, this country is currently under a declared emergency. Farmers protest their legitimate demands. But instead of holding dialogues and understanding their plight, they have to protest in the cold snap and water cannons are used against them. What is happening reflects the lack of consideration of the government ”.
He was speaking to the media in Mumbai on the eve of the two-day winter session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly that begins Monday.
Ignoring the protesters being called anti-nationals, he said: “It is not in our culture to call our country’s food suppliers anti-national and terrorists. The Center has been importing onions and sugar from Pakistan. I want to ask if you want to import farmers from Pakistan now or start handing out certificates about who is Pakistani and who is not. Ruling this country in this Tughlaqi style will not be tolerated by the citizens of this country. “
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“If farmers feel that these laws don’t suit them, are you going to jail them just because they don’t agree with your point of view? This is how the Center seems to behave. If someone speaks for the legitimate demands of farmers and workers, then they are branded as anti-national. “
“The BJP has said that Maharashtra is in Emergency because some people were imprisoned. However, what the Center is doing is a sin that is worse than Emergency… where it is calling out to farmers, who are protesting their legitimate, anti-national demands, “added Thackeray.
On the implementation of the new agricultural laws in Maharashtra, Thackeray said that the state government will not make any decisions that go against the interests of farmers.
On the Opposition’s accusations that the government doesn’t do any work and the people are unhappy, Thackeray said: “The Opposition was busy trying to find a propitious moment for my government to collapse. They have been busy plotting for the last year and may not have realized the kind of development work our government is doing. “
Speaking in support of Thackeray, Senior Deputy Minister Ajit Pawar said that in the recent Legislative Council elections, the educated class, such as teachers and graduates, had voted for Maha Vikas Aghadi’s candidates and had them win by large margins, that the BJP had not been insured in the last 50 to 60 years.
“If the government were at fault, the people would not have voted for us. Today, too, there is around Rs 28,000 crore of GST compensation and tax refund money pending at the Center. The Center, which created the ‘One Nation, One Tax’ policy, is not following it now. “
“In the last year, we have faced various natural calamities, including the Nisarg cyclone and floods, and we are still battling many problems, including Covid-19. The opposition is demoralized after the results of the Legislative Council elections, ”Pawar added.
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