Farmers Movement Archive

No corporation can snatch your land: Amit Shah to farmers

No corporate can snatch away any farmer’s land so long as Narendra Modi is Prime Minister, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Friday as part of a massive outreach by top ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to defend three recently enacted agriculture laws that have sparked fierce protests. Addressing a gathering in Delhi’s Mehrauli on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birth anniversary, Shah promised that the government will continue to provide assured prices for crops and support state-regulated agricultural markets, or mandis. He blamed the Opposition, including Congress, for spreading lies about the minimum support price (MSP) and other provisions.“The Opposition is brazenly lying...farmers’ welfare is the top priority of the Modi government,” Shah asserted.Shah said farmers from all parts of the country backed the laws and added that if any farm organisations felt that any provision was against their interests, the government was ready to discuss and consider it with an open mind. “Neither MSP will end, nor anyone can snatch your land. I want to tell farmers that as long as Narendra Modi is PM, no corporate can snatch away your land, this is BJP’s promise to you,” he said.Other top ministers also addressed similar events. In Delhi’s Dwarka, defence minister Rajnath Singh suggested that farmers try the three new farm laws as an “experiment” for a year or two and if they are found not beneficial, the government would bring necessary amendments. Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Smriti Irani separately interacted with farmers at Chennai in Tamil Nadu and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, respectively, and also joined in to PM Modi’s video address to farmers. Union agricultural minister Narendra Singh Tomar appealed to farmers to end their protest and hold talks with the government. I hope they will understand the importance of the new farm laws, and the issue will be resolved soon,” said Tomar.“There is an attempt to deceive the farmers. The protests are being used for political ends,” said railway minister Piyush Goyal. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plan to field other senior ministers, including road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, social justice minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”, who will travel across the country to convince people about the benefits of the new law. In his speech, Shah said the government was committed to MSP and had raised the quantum of funds provided for farm welfare. “I want to tell farmers in the whole country that opposition leaders have no issues and they are spreading lies that MSP will end. The Prime Minister has clarified and now I again clarify that MSP is there and will continue,” he said.Opposition leaders, including former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, demanded loan waiver for farmers when the government started PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme.“In 10 years, the UPA government waived loans or Rs 60,000 crore. In just two and a half years, Modi ji provided Rs 95,000 crore to ten crore farmers,” Shah said.He claimed the opposition was trying to manufacture issues and spreading “lies” . “The mandis will also continue. They are spreading lies that mandis will be closed. I want to ask the opposition which provision tells them that the mandis will be closed? In Dwarka, Singh called himself a farmer’s son and said the government will never hurt the interest of farmers. “People are trying to mislead farmers about these farm laws that they are not in their interest. I am the son of a farmer and have worked in farms. I want to assure there is not a single provision in these laws that is against farmers,” he added.Minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, that the government was committed to the “protection and promotion” of farmers’ welfare.

Hindustan Times

26-12-2020

India