Haryana Congress chief and former Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP ) government at the Centre of crossing all limits of insensitivity as farmers’ protest against the new farm laws entered the 26th day.
“Farmers have been agitating against the anti-agriculture laws of the BJP government for the last 26 days on Delhi borders. More than 30 farmers have been martyred in this movement, but yet it did not have any effect on the BJP government. The government has crossed all limits of insensitivity,” she said in a statement.
Ms. Selja alleged the BJP government wanted to snatch the rights of farmers and hand over the agricultural economy to big capitalists. “The future of farmers will end if the capitalists enter the agricultural sector. The intention and policy of the government is to exploit the country’s economy for the benefit of a few industrial houses. The central government is pretending to interact with farmer organizations whereas in reality, the government is trying to mislead the farmers,” she added.
Terming the observing of a one-day fast by BJP leaders in support of the early construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal — the focal point of a water-sharing dispute between Punjab and Haryana — as a “drama”, Ms. Selja said that at the behest of the Central government, the BJP government of Haryana was raising the issue of the SYL to create a divide in the farmers’ movement.
“...but the farmers are well aware of this conspiracy. This is the reason why people of Haryana rejected the drama done by BJP in the name of fasting for getting the SYL water. The Supreme Court verdict on SYL is in favor of Haryana, yet the BJP government never sincerely tried to get SYL water to Haryana. Till date, Chief Minister Manohar Lal has not been able to take time from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an all-party meeting with the state leaders on the SYL issue,” she said.