‘Andolans Liberated India’: PM Modi Slammed for Insulting Farmers

Farmers unions say they will be more than happy to get back to farming if the government accepts their legitimate demands. Image used for representation. 

(Photo: PTI)

Farmer unions have condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ‘insulting farmers’. They strongly objected to his remarks in Rajya Sabha on Monday that a new "breed" of agitators called ‘andolan jivi’ has emerged in the country, and said that agitation has an important role in a democracy.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), in a statement pointed out that, “Farmers would be more than happy to get back to farming if the government at least now accepts their legitimate demands.”

“Farmers would like to remind the PM that it is <i>andolans</i> that have liberated India from colonial rulers and that is why we are proud to be <i>Andolan jivi</i>. It is the BJP and it’s predecessors that never did any <i>andolan</i> against Britishers and they were always against the <i>andolans</i>, they are still scared of public movements.”

Samyukta Kisan Morcha

‘Country Runs on Constitution, Not Trust’

Eleven rounds of talks have been held over the contentious farm laws but the impasse continues. In the last round of talks, the government had offered to suspend the laws for 12-18 months, but the farmer unions rejected it, being firm on their demands — the repeal of the three laws and legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP).

“I assure you that MSP was there in the past, MSP is there presently, and MSP will also stay in the future,” Modi said.

SKM retorted, calling this as an ‘empty statement’ that is of ‘no benefit to farmers’.

“Farmers will benefit in reality and in an equitable as well as sustainable manner only if MSP is made into a legal guarantee for all crops,” they said.

Prime Minister said ‘<i>MSP hai, tha aur rahega</i>’ on 8 February, but he did not say that a law will be formed on MSP (Minimum Support Price). The country does not run on trust. It runs on the Constitution and the law.

Rakesh Tikait, Bharatiya Kisan Union, as quoted by ANI.

‘The New FDI is Foreign Destructive Ideology’

In the backdrop of the international condemnation of the government’s inaction towards the farmer’s protests, PM Modi said that while the government is talking about Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the country is also witnessing Foreign Destructive Investment.

“The nation is making progress and we are talking about FDI but I see that a new FDI has come to the fore. We have to protect the nation from this new FDI. We need Foreign Direct Investment but the new FDI is 'Foreign Destructive Ideology', we have to protect ourselves from it,” he said.

SKM responded, “The PM's FDI approach is dangerous too, even as we distance ourselves from any ‘Foreign Destructive Ideology’."

“It questioned the fact that the government is introducing the Electricity Amendment Bill 2021, despite assuring farmers' organisations of withdrawing the draft bill,” the statement read.

Thousands of agitating farmers from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur in Delhi for over 70 days in protest.

Farmer unions also made a note of how Twitter accounts of several farmers and music videos have been removed by agencies but they shall strive to continue their fight.