The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday burnt copies of the Centre’s controversial agriculture laws while celebrating the festival of Lohri, which the party dedicated to the martyrs of farmers’ movement, across Punjab.

In a statement, AAP state president and Member of Parliament (MP) from Sangrur, Bhagwant Mann said farmers were working day and night against the “black laws” of the Central government and were getting martyred during agitation.

He said that so far more than 65 of farmers were martyred in the agitation. “In this moment of farmers’ crisis, all AAP workers have decided to dedicate this year’s Lohri, to farmers who were martyred in the movement,” said Mann. The MP said that the party workers saluted the spirit and courage of the farmers by burning more than eight lakh copies of the agriculture black in every village, locality and cities of every district of Punjab, at more than 16,000 places.

Mann said these black laws were not laws, but warrants of death for ‘annadatas’ (farmers). He said that on one side, sons of the farmers of Punjab were getting martyred while fighting the enemies on the border of the country and on the other hand, farmers were getting martyred by agitating against the dictator ruler of their own country.

“The ruler of the country (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is immersed in the ego of power. Due to his arrogance, he is not listening to the legitimate demands of farmers, who have been struggling on the roads for months, risking their lives in this severe cold. He is forcing them to struggle on the roads in this harsh weather,” he added.

Mann said the Central government should not play with the feelings of the farmers and repeal the black laws immediately. He further expressed sorrow over the decision of the Supreme Court, saying that it was very unfortunate that even the apex court could not understand the problems of the farmers properly and the farmers could not get justice from the court. He said that it had been more than a month and a half, since our farmers were sitting in severe cold against the Modiled Central government.

“More than 65 of our farmer brothers who were agitating have lost their lives. But, the Modi government and BJP leaders are giving mental pain to the farmers and hurting their self-esteem by making false statements and allegations against them,” said Mann. The AAP leader said that the Modi government was taking away the Constitutional rights of common people of the country and was attacking the democratic structure of India in violation of the dignity of the constitution.