Opp. flays govt over cop action against farmers

◗ The Opp. parties accused the Central government of being ‘ anti- farmer’ and demanded allowing the protesters to enter Delhi to peacefully air their grievances

New Delhi, Oct. 2: Opposition parties on Tuesday put the blame on the Modi government for what they described as “brutal police action” against thousands of farmers marching towards the national capital, with the Congress alleging that the “Badshah of Delhi Sultanate was drunk with power”.

The parties accused the Central government of being ‘ anti- farmer’ and demanded allowing the protesters to enter Delhi to peacefully air their grievances, even as the government went into a huddle to mull over ways to convince the farmers to call off their protest. Farmers stayed put on the Delhi- UP border in Ghaziabad and other places, where they were stopped by the police including with the use of water cannons and teargas shells. Some reports suggested use of lathicharge as well.

The protest call has been given by the Bharatiya Kisan Union ( BKU) over demands ranging from farm loan waiver to cut in fuel prices.

The farmers, riding tractors and trolleys, broke barricades of the Uttar Pradesh police and then started proceeding towards the barricades put up by the Delhi police. Tear gas was also used to disperse the crowd, officials said.

Reacting to the development, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday accused the BJP for “brutal beating up” of farmers at the Delhi border on the International Day of NonViolence and said that they cannot even air their grievances in the national capital.

“On International Day of Non- Violence, the BJP’s two- year Gandhi Jayanti celebrations began with the brutal beating of farmers peacefully coming to Delhi. Now, the farmers cannot even air the grievances coming to the capital!” he tweeted in Hindi.

The Congress working committee, the highest decision- making body of the party which held its meeting in Maharashtra, also adopted a resolution strongly condemning the police action against the farmers.

Condemning the police action, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said if the Centre can write off huge debt of a few industrialists why it could not waive the loans of farmers.