Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday slammed his Punjab counterpart Capt Amarinder Singh, saying he had always stood with farmers. Singh had said on Sunday that Kejriwal was “exploiting” the ongoing agitation of the farmers after the Delhi CM announced he would fast in support of the ongoing protest.
“Captain, I have stood with the farmers from the beginning. Did not let Delhi’s Stadium become a jail, fought the Center. I am serving the farmers by serving them. You set-up a deal with the Centre to get your son’s ED case forgiven, sold the farmers’ movement? Why?” said Kejriwal in a tweet.
Kejriwal on Sunday had asked the BJP-ruled Centre to shun “arrogance” and scrap three farm laws as demanded by agitating farmers, and bring a Bill to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for agricultural produce. He had said he would hold one-day fast on Monday in response to a call given by the agitating farmers and urged his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) volunteers as well as the people of the country to join in.
“Fasting is sacred. Wherever you are, fast for our farmer brothers. Pray to God for the success of their struggle. In the end, farmers will definitely win,” he said in a tweet on Monday.
Addressing a virtual press briefing, the chief minister had previously said the Centre should immediately accept all demands of the farmers who have been protesting on Delhi’s borders for the past two weeks.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country. However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of MSP and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
Soon after Kejriwal’s announcement, Singh attacked his Delhi counterpart and said he was attempting “further his party’s petty electoral agenda with blatant lies and brazenly false propaganda” through the farmers’ agitation.
In sharp contrast to the Kejriwal government in Delhi, which had been thriving on corporate houses’ crumbs, the Punjab government had neither signed any agreement with Adani Power nor was even aware of the private players bidding for power purchase in the state,” said Singh, in a hard-hitting reaction to the latest campaign by the AAP in Punjab.
“It was, in fact, the Kejriwal government that was shamelessly notifying one of the black farm laws on November 23, at a time when farmers were preparing to march to Delhi to protest these very farm laws,” said Amarinder Singh. “And now they’re indulging in theatrics by announcing that they’d be sitting on fast in support of the farmers’ hunger strike on Monday,” he added.
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