New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday congratulated the farmers who were protesting against the contentious farm laws after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the three farm laws introduced last year will be cancelled.
CM Banerjee took to Twitter and wrote, “My heartfelt congratulations to every single farmer who fought relentlessly and were not fazed by the cruelty with which BJP treated you. This is YOUR VICTORY! My deepest condolences to everyone who lost their loved ones in this fight.”
Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also tweeted congratulating the farmers. “The country’s farmers have defeated arrogance with their satyagraha. Jai Hindi, Jai Hindi’s farmers,” Gandhi tweeted, along with an old tweet from January this year where he said, “Mark my words, the government will have to take back the anti-farm laws.”
Other leaders of opposition parties in the central level also tweeted to congratulate farmers – and take a swipe at the Modi government. “Arrogance loses. From hubris to on your knees,” Trinamool Congress MP Derek O-Brien tweeted.
Many farmers had been protesting at Delhi’s borders since November 2020 with a demand that the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee MSP for crops.
The Centre, which has held 11 rounds of formal dialogue with the farmers, had maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer, while protesters claim they would be left at the mercy of corporations because of the legislations.