The Shiv Sena on Monday slammed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government over the treatment meted out to protesting farmers and warned the party that it was playing with fire by terming the farmers ‘Khalistanis’. The Sena added it was inhuman to use water cannons on farmers amid the cold wave sweeping parts of north India.
The farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders for the past five days against the contentious new farm laws. They have refused to accept any conditional dialogue and threatened to block all five entry points to the national capital.
Referring to the giant Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel “erected by PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah” in Gujarat, the editorial said Patel was also a leader of farmers and led many farmers’ agitation against the British. “Sardar Patel would have cried had he seen the treatment meted out to farmers protesting on Delhi’s border. The farmers were beaten, showered with cold water, and tear gassed. Using water cannon during the cold is inhuman,” said an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana.
“Our farmers are being treated as terrorists and attacked on Delhi’s borders while terrorists are killing our soldiers on the border in Kashmir,” it said.
The Sena singled out Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for claiming a Khalistani link to the protests. “BJP wants to create anarchy. Khalistan is a closed chapter for which Indira Gandhi and General Arunkumar Vaidya laid down their lives. The BJP is not only mentioning Khalistan but also wants to push its own politics in Punjab,” the editorial said.
The Sena added that once the BJP runs out of issues to raise, then it digs up the Hindustan-Pakistan issue. “The party had claimed pro-Pakistan and azaadi slogans were raised in Jawaharlal Nehru University. All the evidence proved that these claims were fake. They placed their own men on the campus in disguise to create such incidents,” said the editorial.
“The government is using all its might to crush political opponents, but why is this determination not seen while dealing with the country’s enemies?” it asked, adding that in the last one month, 11 soldiers from Maharashtra were martyred while fighting enemies on the borders.
The Central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are being used as weapons against political opponents, the Sena said.
“These agencies should also get a chance to display their valour,” it said and suggested that the personnel of the ED and the CBI should be deployed on the border to help the Army fight against China and Pakistan. “Once you put the CBI and the ED on the border, Pakistan and China will surrender. Not all battles are won with guns,” the Sena said.