Farmers Movement Archive

BJP questions Congress silence on Singhu border killing, mocks the Congress Working Committee meeting

The BJP on Saturday mocked the Congress Working Committee meeting as “parivar bachao working committee”, claiming that it offered no answers to the party’s “internal rift and leadership failures” and instead resorted to “spreading lies”.BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia also criticised the CWC for not reacting to the gruesome murder of a Dalit man at the Singhu border and questioned if the opposition party stood with the “Talibani mindset” behind the killing.Anarchic elements are using farmers for their politics, he also claimed.Bhatia claimed the Opposition, especially the Congress, will maintain a “deafening silence” because “it does not suit their political narrative”.He also attacked farmer leader Rakesh Tikait for his reported remarks that organisers cannot be blamed for such an incident.BJP’s IT cell in charge Amit Malviya said that 24 hours after the gruesome murder of “Lakhbir Singh, a Dalit Sikh, Rahul Gandhi hasn’t said a word. Neither has Punjab CM announced any compensation for the family, which hails from Punjab. Clearly, for the Congress, Dalit lives are expendable, as long as it suits their politics”.Bhatia, meanwhile, also took a swipe at Sonia Gandhi over her assertion that she was a “full time and hands on” Congress chief, noting her status as the interim president of the organisation and the demands of the “G-23” for a full time chief.“It will not be wrong to say that it was less a Congress Working Committee and more a parivar bachao working committee (save family working committee),” he said, alleging that Gandhi’s opening remarks did not touch on a host of issues facing the party and left unanswered people’s questions about Congress-run governments in different states.The BJP spokesperson said the Congress again advanced the politics of lies and spreading confusion, in an apparent reference to her attack on the Narendra Modi government over a host of issues, including three “black (farm) laws”, killings in Jammu and Kashmir, Lakhimpur Kheri violence and the state of the economy.He cited the police lathi-charge on a group of protesting farmers in Congress-ruled states of Punjab and Rajasthan and a law on contract farming brought in by Punjab that says “farmers can be arrested for breaking the agreement”.“This is what a black law is, and the Congress president should ensure that it is withdrawn,” he said.He also took a dig at Gandhi for the part of her statement in which she says all CWC are now doubly vaccinated, paving the way for its first physical meeting since the Covid-19 outbreak, reminding the Congress criticism of the government’s vaccination policies.“The Congress should offer words of thanks to scientists and doctors when 100 crore doses of vaccines are completed in a few days,” he added. He also criticised Gandhi for not visiting her Lok Sabha constituency of Rai Bareli for over 21 months, calling her a failure as an MP.Tikait calls the killing ‘unfortunate’, says ‘will not affect farmers’ protest against the Centre’s three farm laws’BKU leader Rakesh Tikait, who called the alleged killing “unfortunate”, has also termed it a conspiracy against the farmers’ agitation.Tikait said that it will not affect farmers’ protest against the Centre’s three farm laws.“Whatever happened is wrong and unfortunate. Someone killed him and later the police arrested the killer. The matter is subject to investigation. It will not affect our protest,” he said.

The Tribune

2021-10-16

New Delhi