Oppn trying to politicise farm laws, says Yogi

CM SAID THIS WAS A CONSPIRACY TO WEAKEN COUNTRY’S FIGHT AGAINST THE COVID-19 AND SOME NEFARIOUS POWERS WERE BEHIND THE PROPOSED BANDH

LUCKNOW : Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday launched a scathing attack on the opposition parties, accusing them of making a ‘nasty bid’ to create a situation of anarchy and disorder in the country by using innocent farmers as a cover.

His attack comes a day before the Bharat bandh that various farmer organisations are scheduled to organise on Tuesday, with the opposition parties lending their support to demand rollback of the three farm laws enacted by the centre recently.

“The opposition parties are trying to mislead innocent farmers on the Centre’s revolutionary and historic laws to further their selfish political ends,” Adityanath said at a press conference at his official residence here.

He also said by goading farmers to organise the bandh amid the pandemic, the opposition parties were exposing farmers to the risk of the coronavirus.

“This is also a conspiracy to weaken country’s fight against the Covid-19 and some nefarious powers are behind the proposed bandh,” he alleged.

Replying to a question, the CM said the call for the Bharat bandh was uncalled for considering the fact that the Centre’s representatives, including Union agriculture minister, were regularly holding dialogues with farmers to hammer out an agreeable solution.

Accusing the opposition parties of displaying “double stan

dards”, Adityanath said the Congress-led UPA government had made a strong case for the implementation of the Model Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act with the provision for contract faring in the larger interest of farmers.

“The then agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar even wrote a letter to chief ministers of all states in 2010-11 asking them to modify their APMC laws in accordance with the Model APMC Act made by the Centre,” he said.He further said then the SP, BSP, NCP and the TMC etc were all either a part of then Congress-led UPA government at the Centre or were supporting it from outside.

Yogi said leaders, including SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, supported the proposal for mandi reforms when it was referred to the Parliament’s standing committee last year.

“If the reforms were in the interest of farmers, how can the same reforms go against the interests of farmers now when the Modi government showed the courage to take the plunge?” he asked and demanded the opposition parties to render an apology to the nation for misleading innocent farmers by adopting double standards on agriculture reforms and shying away from their old stand.