Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav came down heavily on the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre for using force on the agitating farmers near Delhi.
Taking a stand in support of the farmers’ agitation on Tuesday, Akhilesh Yadav asked, “Is this the Amritkaal (as the contemporary period often referred to by Prime Minister Narendra Modi) promised by the BJP when tear-gas shells are used by the police on a group of farmers on their way to Delhi?”
He said whatever is happening and the kind of news that is coming such as tear-gas shells being used to stop the farmers’ march to Delhi to end their agitation reflects the government’s highhandedness.
“The Delhi government wants to suppress the voice of farmers. This is the same government that had promised the farmers to double their income, they would get the price due to their produce, and that they would implement the minimum support price,” he said.
Yadav pointed out that these farmers have been agitating for their legitimate dues for a year now and even lost 700 of fellow farmers during their agitation.
Pointing out the contradiction in policies of the ruling dispensation, he said “On the one hand, the government tries to woo the farmers for their votes by conferring Bharat Ratna on Chaudhary Charan Singh and MS Swaminathan while on the other, does not even want to listen to them.”
He concluded by saying, “The public will teach them a lesson in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.”