LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said the Opposition parties, mainly Congress , were trying to create an atmosphere of disharmony in the country by using innocent farmers who have always been given a raw deal by them.
Reacting to the Opposition's support to the Bharat Bandh call given by agitating farmers, the CM also criticized the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party for supporting the previous Congress-led UPA government on the issue of reforms in the APMC Act and opposing the same when brought in by the NDA government.
“Opposition parties are taking a U-turn on the issue and they should apologise to farmers,” he said at a press conference here on Monday.
“Opposition kisanon ke kandhe ka istemal kar ke desh mein ashanti phaila raha hai” (the opposition is vitiating the peaceful atmosphere of the country in the garb of supporting farmers,” Yogi said.
He said the Congress, SP and BSP were losing one election after another and being rejected by people but were not desisting from misleading farmers for their vested interest.
Yogi reiterated that the farm laws were beneficial for farmers.
The CM reminded that Sharad Pawar, the agriculture minister in UPA-2, had sent a letter to all the CMs of the country to espouse the cause of a model act affecting amendment in the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act.
“The Congress steered the move while it was supported by NCP, SP, BSP and TMC. These parties also supported the Narendra Modi government during deliberations on the issue in the standing committee but now they have betrayed their commitment to create a state of anarchy,” he said.
“The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already issued notification for the implementation of new law but it is supporting Bharat Bandh call,” he said.
Not only this, almost all the opposition parties had included the amendment in APMC Act in their election manifesto and the patriarch of SP Mulayam Singh Yadav and the leaders of TMC, Congress and TMC had stressed the need for amending APMC Act during the meetings of the standing committee of parliament.
The CM said this is most ironic that the same parties which once advocated "One Nation, One Market' are showing their 'dual character' for which they owe an apology to the nation.
“What is most painful is the fact that the Opposition is misleading the farmers and challenging the government at a time when it is fighting a decisive battle against deadly coronavirus. The Opposition is putting the lives and health of agitating farmers in danger,” Yogi remarked.
“The Modi government introduced major agri reforms while the Congress only exploited the farmers during 55 years of its governance,” he said.
He said the central government not only started the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Yojana and other insurance schemes for the welfare of farmers and their crop but was also introducing the concept of ‘One Nation, One market’.