Farmers Movement Archive

‘Why didn’t the CWC react to the murder at Singhu?’

The BJP criticised the Congress Working Committee (CWC) that met on Saturday for not reacting to the ghastly murder of a Dalit man at the Singhu border, one of the sites of the farmers’ protests, and questioned if the Opposition party stood with the “Talibani mindset” behind the killing. At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia described the CWC as a “ parivar bachao working committee [save the dynasty committee]”. Mr. Bhatia alleged that it offered no answers to the issues of the party’s internal rift and its leadership’s failures, and instead indulged in spreading lies. ‘Deafening silence’ “For the sake of petty and cheap vote bank politics, Opposition parties, especially the Congress, will maintain a deafening silence on this [Singhu border killing] key issue. They will not have courage to call spade a spade because it does not suit their political narrative,” Mr. Bhatia said. He attacked farmer leader Rakesh Tikait for his reported remarks that organisers could not be blamed for such an incident. Taking a swipe at Sonia Gandhi for her assertion that she was a “full-time and hands-on” Congress chief, he noted her status as the interim president of the organisation, and the demand of the group of disaffected party members, referred to as the G-23, that it should have a full-time head. ‘Black law in Punjab’ Mr. Bhatia cited the police lathi-charge on a group of protesting farmers in the Congress-ruled States of Punjab and Rajasthan. He remarked that a law on contract farming brought in by Punjab stated that farmers could be arrested for breaking the agreement. “This is what a black law is, and the Congress president should ensure that it is withdrawn,” he added. Mr. Bhatia also took a dig at Ms. Gandhi for the part of her statement in which she noted that all CWC members were now doubly vaccinated, paving the way for its first physical meeting since the COVID-19 outbreak. “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.

The Hindu

2021-10-17

NEW DELHI