Farmers cancel Budget Day march
BJP blames Rahul Gandhi, Communists for instigating farmer unions for violent protests on R-Day
As cracks began to appear in their ongoing agitation against the agri laws, farmer unions on Wednesday cancelled their planned march to Parliament on February 1 when the Budget would be presented.
The decision by farmer unions came a day after massive violence during their tractor parade in the national capital that left nearly 400 police personnel injured.
The farmer leaders, however, alleged that there was a conspiracy behind Tuesday’s incidents and demanded a probe.
They said their agitation against the farm laws will continue and public meetings and hunger strikes will be held across the country on January 30.
“The tractor parade was hit by a government conspiracy. Deep Sidhu is an RSS man. Police let him go after he hoisted a religious flag at Red Fort,” farmer leader Darshan Pal, who has been accused by police of making inflammatory speeches, alleged at a press conference.
“We have cancelled our plan for a march to Parliament on budget day on February 1. But our agitation will continue and there will be public meetings and hunger strike across the country on January 30, “Pal said.
Another farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal claimed that over two lakh tractors and lakhs of people participated in Tuesday’s parade and “99.9 percent of the protesters were peaceful”.
Meanwhile, blaming the Congress, in particular its leader Rahul Gandhi and the Communists for instigating farmers unions for violent protests witnessed on the Republic Day in the national capital and “defaming the tricolor” at the Red Fort, the BJP on Wednesday said the Congress used the same tactics to instigate people against the amended Citizenship Act, asked them to come on roads against it and fanned riots and mayhem.
Claiming that the Narendra Modi government made “sincere efforts” by reaching out to farmer unions over the farm laws, held several rounds of meetings, even suggesting clause by clause discussion but farmer unions remained adamant on repealing the laws as “there was politics behind their demand.”
Asserting that all those who instigated the violence will be brought to book and the nation will never forgive those who defamed the tricolor, Union minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said the Congress and the Congress ruled Punjab had been instigating farmer unions since day one against the laws and when there were statements and videos of some of them claiming “final match on the Republic Day” why did the Punjab government did not act against “habitual criminals” who were leaving the state to reach Delhi borders. He said no other state witnessed such protests by farmers as in Punjab.
Reading some of the tweets of Congress affiliated handles, Mr Javadekar said Congress members were supporting the violence by claiming that it was peaceful protest when police personnel were beaten up, mob was damaging barricades, flouting the agreed routes of their ‘tractor parade,’ damaging vehicles and defamed the tricolor at the Red Fort.
“Congress has been losing electorally, politically, it is dejected, desperate and so are the Communists, who now only want that somehow they instigate people, create a situation where there is mayhem, there are riots, so that police is forced to act, lives are lost, public property is damaged so that they can do politics,” he said.