Farmers Movement Archive

‘Modi is the PM of capitalists’

“Narendra Modi is not the Prime Minister of the poor and the farmers,” charged Rashtriya Lok Dal President Ajit Singh while addressing a massive gathering of farmers in Bamnauli village of Baghpat on Saturday. “He is the Prime Minister of capitalists and corporates. He shows dreams but doesn’t care to fulfil them,” said Mr. Singh at the meeting called by the Desh Khap on the birth anniversary of Raja Sulakshpal Tomar. The RLD chief said the PM and U.P. Chief Minister promise to make the pending payment of sugarcane farmers in the region but the sugar mills were not listening. He said it was true that MSP had not been touched in the farm laws but in the last four years the debt on Food Corporation of India had increased by four times. Mr. Singh said it seemed the government made these laws to help corporates that are making huge godowns instead of the FCI. “It is on the verge of bankruptcy. How will it pay the MSP,” he wondered. Bihar’s example Mr. Singh reminded that farmers in Bihar were suffering because they didn’t get the MSP. “The capitalists work for profit. It is the government’s role to look after the welfare of the poor. If the farmer didn’t have money in his hand, the rural economy would flounder,” he said. The RLD chief said the new farm laws were against the interest of farmers and consumers as it allows corporates to hoard as much as they want. “We are not against corporate farming. Sugarcane farming is also a kind of contract between farmer and mill owners but here the government also has a specific role to ensure that the interest of the farmers is not violated. Do you think a farmer with two bigha land could stand up to the lawyers of the corporates?” he said. Continuing with his aggressive approach against the farm laws, Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait appealed to farmers to keep their tractors ready. “Keep one eye on your tractor and the other on Delhi,” he said. “Private godowns were built first, Bills came later. It shows the nexus between the capitalists and the government. I appeal to the government to acquire those godowns.” This was the first time after the January 28 outburst that hogged national headlines that Mr. Tikait addressed a gathering in western U.P. in which political leaders were also present. BKU sources played it down as a social event in honour of the Jat king. “Rakeshji addressed before political leaders from a separate stage erected for farmers,” said an organiser.

The Hindu

2021-02-28

Ghaziabad