NOIDA: Farmers protesting at the Dalit Prerna Sthal and Chilla border on Friday came down heavily on the government and called the PM’s outreach to the farmers an attempt to spread lies.
The farmers opposed the PM saying that while the PM does “Mann ki baat” with the country, he does not listen to farmers’ “Mann ki baat.”
Those farmers of the BKU-Lokshakti sitting in protest at the Dalit Prerna Sthal blew shells, temple bells and clanged plates saying that they wanted their voice to reach the PM who does not listen to them.
Around 60 workers/supporters of the BJP too were present at the site and they said they were joining the outfit leaving their support to the BJP whom they voted in the general elections.
BKU-Lokshakti spokesperson Rajiv Nagar told TOI that while farmers were raising their voice, the PM was ignoring their voice.
“We blew shells and temple bells to waken the government. The PM is lying and not listening to the farmers. It is like an old tape recorder playing. Some 15-20 farmers were seated and they acted like- government-tutored parrots. In today’s programme, they showed that farmers are happy but it is far different from the reality,” he said.
Bhanu Pratap Singh, national president of the BKU-Bhanu which is sitting at the Chilla border in protest, told TOI that from the PM’s address, they got a sense that they are being viewed as opposition leaders.
“We have been supporting the BJP. Lakhs of loans of corporates are being waived of but not of the farmers. Before coming to power, the BJP leader claimed that the Congress was dishonest and we supported the BJP and now, first we saw demonetisation which led to many a suicide. My own son died of suicide because he was broke after demonetisation. Ask the PM about who related to him died of suicide? He does not have kids. The PM has been lying throughout,” he said
BJP supporters join BKU-Lokshakti
Around 50 workers of the BJP on Friday from Gautam Budh Nagar decided not to support the BJP and joined the BKU-Lokshakti saying that BJP was lying. This came a day after another 50 supporters joined the outfit on Thursday.
Mahendra Rathi, who came from Greater Noida’s Sankalp society in Omicron 1 sector told TOI that he will not support the party any longer although he has been a “worker” of the party.
“The BJP is not fulfilling the demands of the farmers and is not working in the benefit of the farmers anymore,” he said.
Hargyan Sabera, who came from Rampur village said that he is associated with the Jan Sangh from as early as 1984 when the BJP was not even formed but now, he will support the farmers.
“I will not support the BJP any more because it has been resorting to lies and creating wide among the farmers,” he said.
Ravinder Singh, another farmers from Ronija told TOI that while he voted for BJP in 2014 and 2019, he will not vote for the party now because BJP has been lying and not doing work on ground.
Some young workers like Bheem Singh and Vipin Bhati too arrived at the spot and joined the outfit.
When contacted, Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh told TOI that the government has now started reaching out to farmers to clear the "rumours" spread among them about the farm bills. "Some rumours have been spread which have gone a too far. The government is trying to address them. But, they will have no effect on the party's performance,” he said.