Rejected by people, Opposition resorting to event management, selfie ops: PM on farmers’ protest

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into the Opposition parties on Friday accusing them of double standards and of using farmers to stay relevant. The PM’s scathing attack came amid the farmers’ agitation against new farm laws along the borders of Delhi. The stir has been on past 30 days and several rounds of talks have failed to yield any positive results.

Read more: Click here for live updates of the farmers’ protest 

Speaking at a function to release Rs 18,000 crores to farmers as part of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, the PM said that the Opposition was resorting to ‘event management’. “Rejected by the people of India, the Opposition parties are resorting to event management, selfie opportunities,” the Prime Minister said adding the Opposition parties were misleading the farmers.

In his sharp attack on the Mamata Banerjee-led government of West Bengal, the PM said that it was said the the state government was not allowing the implementation of the PM Kisan yojana. “Bengal is the only state which is not allowing benefits of the schemes to reach the farmers,” he said.

“Mamata Banerjee’s ideology has destroyed Bengal. Her actions against the farmers have hurt me a lot. Why is the Opposition quiet on this?” he added. Targeting the Left parties, PM Modi said, “you are worried about farmers of Punjab but not of Bengal and Kerala.”

Earlier, while interacting with a farmer from Arunachal Pradesh, PM Modi asked, “Private firm buys your product, does it take your land too?’ To which the farmer replied, “the land is ours and will stay ours”. Taking a dig at the Opposition parties, the PM said that some people were spreading rumours that farmers will lose their land. “Today, more than Rs 18,000 crores have been directly deposited in the accounts of farmers; no middlemen, no commissions,” he added.

Detailing the benefits of the new farm laws, passed in September this year, the Prime Minister said: “You can serve your produce wherever you want; You can sell at the MSP; You can sell your crops in mandis, if you want you can trade your produce; you can sell to traders; you can sell in in another state; you can sell your produce as a group and you can become part of a value chain.”

While putting up a strong defence of the three new farm laws, Modi said the Centre is willing to resume the dialogue on all farmers-related issues, even with those staunchly opposed to his government as long as the talks are based on issues, facts and logic.

He asserted that an overwhelming number of farmers across the country have welcomed the new laws and are already reaping the benefits, and listed out the BJP’s victory in panchayat elections across states, in which farmers were the main voters and including in areas surrounding protest sites.

Referring to the protests, Modi said farmers had some genuine apprehensions about new laws including on MSP guarantee when the agitation started, but soon people with political affiliations came in between and started firing from peasants’ shoulders to push their own and unrelated demands.