The Punjab unit of the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday staged a protest against the Centre’s new farm laws at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too joined the demonstration, demanding the withdrawal of the laws and 100% minimum support price (MSP) guarantee to the farmers.
“These (farm) laws should be withdrawn. Legislation on MSP should be brought such that 100% crops will be taken on MSP and MSP should be given at one-anda-half times the cost,” said the Delhi CM.
Targeting the farm laws, Kejriwal said, “Farmers of the country have to leave the farm and demonstrate because of the farm laws. It is the time for farming, it is the time to harvest paddy, but farmers are forced to protest. Through the farm laws, the government wants to take away farming from farmers and give it to the companies. I want to say that, when there was a scarcity of grain after Independence, these companies didn’t come to our rescue; it was our farmers who came out and ushered in the Green Revolution.”
Kejriwal, in his 20-minute speech, also reminded the BJP of the promises it had made before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. “The BJP had promised to follow the Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations and implement a 1.5 times increase in MSP when they were asking for votes for the 2014 elections. After winning the elections, they did away with MSP altogether,” Kejriwal said. He also reminded how the AAP government did not close government schools and hospitals, but “fixed” them, saying that “they (BJP) should have done the same.”
Kejriwal added, “The Centre says that the produce of only 6% of the farmers is bought at MSP. The government must be ashamed if this figure is accurate.”
The Delhi CM also demanded legislation ensuring that farmers get 100% MSP coverage on their produce and that the MSP would be one-and-a-half times the cost of the farm produce.
“Regarding the MSP, farmers have been stabbed in the back. They have a national party in Punjab. A very big leader of that party (Captain Amarinder) was in the meeting in which the farm laws were made and they are now holding a tractor rally? The other party (Akali Dal) passed the bill and resigned. These two are doing drama.”