In a scathing attack at the BJP government, PDP chief and former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, on Thursday described the violence on Republic Day in Delhi as “a conspiracy” to defame farmers agitating against the three farm laws.
Mehbooba, who is in Jammu to meet party leaders, when asked by media persons about the violence at the Red Fort and elsewhere in Delhi during the tractor rally, said; What happened on Republic Day and what we saw on the TV, the person who engineered violence belongs to BJP”.
In an obvious reference to the small time Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu who is being blamed for the violence, Mehbooba said; “that person had been with the Prime Minister, Home Minister and he had been running the BJP election campaign in Punjab’s Gurdaspur for Sunny Deol during Lok Sabha Polls. I feel that it has been a conspiracy to defame farmers,” she said.
Pointing out that Republic Day marks the day when the Indian Constitution came into existence in 1950, she asked the central government to immediately withdraw the three farm laws “as these had been enacted without consulting the farmers who were apprehensive that they may lose everything including their land”.
It is worth mentioning that also during the early days of farmers agitation Mehbooba had been supporting them and criticising the Modi government. In a sharp reation she had said that “farmers have brought the Centre to its knees”.
Reacting to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) summoning some farmer leaders, Mehbooba had tweeted; “GOIs pet agency NIA is now being unleashed on farmer unions. The rot that has set into India’s premier terror investigative agency can be gauged from the manner in which they are fabricating charges on Kashmiris, farmers & those who dare to dissent”