Farmers Movement Archive

Opposition used farmers to grab power, misleading them: UP CM Yogi Adityanath

GORAKHPUR/LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath cautioned farmers to be wary of people who are trying to misguide them to fulfil their own ulterior motives. Addressing a farmers conference organised under Mission Kisan Kalyan at the Government Agricultural School campus in Gorakhpur on Sunday, Yogi said the people did not do anything for the welfare of farmers when they were in power are behind the conspiracy of misleading the peasants. “These people always used farmers to grab power and made their own fortunes while the farmers continued to languish in penury and debt,” Yogi said. In contrast, the BJP governments at Centre and in state have been working in the interest of farmers, the CM said. “These people who misled farmers have always been habitual liars. They spread the lie that farm land will be grabbed in contract farming, while PM Narendra Modi has already made it clear that contract farming is just another option, not an obligation and the farmers have full freedom to sell their produce in any market to earn more profit,” he said. Reiterating that no one can grab farmers’ land under contract farming, Yogi also allayed fears that Mandis would be closed. “Not a single mandi was closed since June 2020 after farm laws, but a deliberate misinformation campaign was run to misguide farmers,” he said. The CM said the mandis were added under the “e-NAM” concept of One Nation One Market. Training guns at the opposition, Yogi said the people behind the misinformation campaign were the ones who only sold and closed sugar mills in their regimes. He pointed out his government set up new sugar mills in Pipraich and Munderwa in east UP, while SP, BSP governments sold or closed sugar mills in Kushinagar, Deoria and Maharajganj. “The sugarcane farmers had thousands of crores of rupees of arrears. Our government made record payment of Rs 1.27 lakh crore to sugarcane farmers,” he reiterated. Yogi said the country will prosper only when farmers and villages become prosperous. He hailed the Modi government for doing unprecedented work for the welfare of farmers and included them in the agenda of the country’s politics. “Soil health test cards, payment of 1.5 times of MSP, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi and farmers’ loan waiver scheme, these have been some landmark welfare measures for the farmers under the guidance of PM Modi,” he said. Yogi said the sharecroppers were also provided cover of Rs 5 lakh under the Chief Minister’s farmer accident insurance scheme while pending irrigation projects were completed to increase productivity of farming. The CM said 68 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was procured at MSP this year and Rs 66,000 crore paid directly into the accounts of farmers. Besides, 2.42 crore farmers received more than Rs 27,000 crore under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.

The Times of India

2021-03-22

Lucknow