Rajnath rakes up agri laws repeal at UP rally
LAKHIMPUR KHERI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday made a pro-farmer pitch while addressing the people of Lakhimpur Kheri through a mobile phone handset after dense fog prevented his helicopter from landing in the district.
It was in Lakhimpur Kheri’s Tikunia area that four farmers and a local journalist were mowed down by vehicles allegedly associated with BJP leaders during a farmers’ protest on October 3, 2021. Three others, including two BJP workers, were killed in the ensuing violence the same day. Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra is the main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri case and has been charged under murder and other sections.
In his address through the mobile phone handset, Rajnath Singh highlighted the agriculture-based economy of Lakhimpur Kheri and said the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre was committed to the welfare of farmers and farming.
“No other Prime Minister, except Narendra Modi, in independent India had been so sensitive towards the farmers that he repealed the three farm laws all of a sudden only because some farmer brothers had disagreement,” said Rajnath Singh, who is among the BJP’s star campaigners for the sevenphase Uttar Pradesh assembly elections that will begin from the western region of the state on February 10.
Lakhimpur Kheri district goes to polls in the fourth phase on February 23. “While repealing the farm laws, the way he (PM Modi) said that he failed to convince the other farmers reflected his sensitive approach,” Rajnath Singh added.
He also said the BJP government was striving hard to make farming profitable.
“In the Union budget (2022-23) presented on Tuesday, the government has mooted a proposal for organic farming,” he said.
“Efforts and reforms are on to increase the income of even the
small farmers,” he added.
Lauding the Modi government for rooting out corruption, Rajnath Singh said, “Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had expressed his helplessness to curb corruption when he had admitted that only 15 paise out of 100 reached the beneficiaries.”
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without expressing any helplessness, ensured that the full amount of Rs 6000 reached the beneficiaries of the Kisan Samman Nidhi when the same was transferred to them from Delhi,” he added.
The defence minister also said, “The budget has made a record allocation of funds, unprecedented in free India, for defence sector upgradation with the focus on manufacturing defence materials and weapons in India, and not to import them.”
Rajnath Singh asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the party which has chosen the path of development.
“Casteism, regionalism and communalism are not acceptable to the BJP at all,” Rajnath Singh said.
The BJP leader lashed out at the Samajwadi Party for the alleged deplorable law and order situation during its regime, when, he alleged, “loot, murder, abduction and other such crimes were routine.”
Drawing a contrast, he said, “The Yogi government during its five-year term has changed the scenario and even the hardcore criminals are behind bars.”
Appealing the people to vote for BJP, Rajnath Singh said, “The BJP protects both the development of India and her heritage.” He highlighted the renovation of Somnath and Kedarnath temples, the ongoing construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi.
Rajnath Singh was scheduled to address a meeting at the local Yuvraj Palace at around 11.30am on Wednesday and later campaign door-to-door in support of BJP candidates Yogesh Verma from Lakhimpur and Manju Tyagi from Srinagar assembly constituencies.
However, owing to poor visibility caused by dense fog and poor weather conditions, his chopper could not land in Lakhimpur. Later, he addressed the meeting through the mobile handset of a local BJP leader at around 1.30pm.