Farmers Movement Archive

Fear of UP polls made Modi repeal farm laws, says oppn

Panaji: Terming it as a victory for farmers, all the opposition parties on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to repeal the three contentious farm laws is driven by fears of an electoral defeat. Welcoming the Prime Minister’s announcement, political parties said that it is time for BJP to start listening to the people. Congress and Goa Forward Party (GFP) said that Modi’s announcement sends a signal to the opposition that people’s power works. “BJP has feedback that they will lose the next round of elections very badly in five states, including Goa. It is the fear of losing elections that has impelled the Prime Minister to announce that he has decided to repeal the farm laws,” former Union finance minister and AICC senior election observer P Chidambaram said. Describing Modi as a “dictator in the garb of a democrat”, Chidambaram said that the move to repeal the three farm laws proves that in a healthy democracy, “consultation, discussion and parliamentary debate” is vital. Three weeks earlier, Modi in a speech in Uttar Pradesh said that anybody who opposes the farm laws is anti-national, they are speaking for big farmers and that they will never withdraw the farm laws. “For this stubborn government to today announce that they will repeal the farm laws means that they know that they are losing the next round of elections. This is a lesson for the people. This government does not fear democracy and Parliament. It fears losing elections,” Chidambaram said. GFP president Vijai Sardesai said that repealing the three farm laws will be a victory for all people. “Even after being called terrorists and Maoists and subjected to inhumanly oppressive physical and mental force, our farmers have shown India and the world that the arrogance and tyranny of BJP can be and will be eradicated,” he said. He said that a similar unity is required to defeat BJP in Goa. Opposition leader Digambar Kamat also welcomed the Prime Minister’s statements. “After the most insensitive, irresponsible and failed BJP government at the Centre started feeling the heat of people’s anger, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he will withdraw the three anti-farmer laws. This is the beginning of the withdrawal of BJP from across India,” Kamat said. TMC MP Mahua Moitra said that all the opposition parties had consistently urged the Centre to take the laws back. “They criticised us saying that we are anti-national. So many farmers died. The farmers have been protesting for one-and-a-half years through summer and winter. Now when UP elections have come, their brain has started moving,” Moitra said.

The Times of India

2021-11-20

Goa