"We condemn govt action to stop farmers from entering Delhi for peaceful protest," says Congress' Digvijaya Singh
Feb 14, 2024
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], February 14 : Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh has taken a potshot at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government saying he condemned government action to stop farmers from entering Delhi for a protest.
Singh made the remark while speaking to reporters in the state capital Bhopal on Wednesday.
"We condemn government action to stop farmers from entering Delhi to have a peaceful protest... Every day in the advertisements of BJP, the central government and the Madhya Pradesh government, we see the 'Modi Ki Guarantee'... Yes, Modi's guarantee was there, they (the central govt) held meetings with farmers in which it was decided that a law over MSP would be made, the cases over farmers would be withdrawn, and action would be taken against the minister in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident but nothing happened," the Congress leader said.
"Such demands should have been fulfilled but the irony is that PM Modi has chosen the Corporate Minister (Piyush Goyal) to communicate with the farmers, he represents the corporate world and the corporate's interest lies in the exploitation of the farmers," he added.
The farmers have put forth 12 demands before the central government for which they're marching to Delhi. The protest this time has been called by Sanyukt Kisan Morcha and Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee led by farmer union leaders Jagjeet Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher.
According to the protesting farmers, the centre promised them better crop prices, after which they ended the 2021 protest. They are demanding to enact a law guaranteeing a minimum support price (MSP) for all crops, as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission report.
They are also demanding a complete debt waiver and a scheme to provide pensions to farmers and farm labourers.
The farmers have also urged to scrap the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 and are demanding to reintroduce the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, ensuring consent from farmers and compensation at 4 times the collector rate.
Further, they are demanding to punish those involved in the Lakhimpur Kheri killings. An appeal to provide 200 days of employment per year and a daily wage of Rs 700 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA), linking it with farming, has also been made by the farmers.
Also, they have demanded compensation to the families of farmers who died during the protests in 2021 and a job for any family member has been put in place.
