BJP to be responsible if farmers suffer, says AAP chief Kejriwal

“If farmers suffer, the BJP will be responsible…” said AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday over the protesting farmers sitting on indefinite hunger strike in Punjab.

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The remarks came after Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, accused the AAP-led Delhi Government of blocking pro-farmer schemes of the Central Government in the national capital.

In response, the AAP chief, slamming the BJP-led Central Government, said the BJP had not kept the promises made to the farmers and forced them once again to sit on an indefinite hunger strike.

He also warned the BJP of dire consequences as Punjab farmers continued indefinite hunger strike over their unmet demands.

In a post on X, the former Delhi CM wrote, “Farmers in Punjab have been sitting on dharna and indefinite hunger strike for many days. Their demands are the same which the central government had accepted three years ago, but has not implemented yet. The BJP government has now reneged on its promise. The BJP government is not even talking to the farmers. Talk to them. They are the farmers of our own country. Why is the BJP so arrogant that it does not even talk to anyone?”

“May God keep the farmers in Punjab who are on indefinite strike safe, but if something happens to them, the BJP will be responsible for it. For the information of farmers across the country, let me tell you that the three black laws which were withdrawn by the Centre three years ago due to the farmers’ agitation, the Central Government is preparing to implement these again through the backdoor by calling these ‘policies’. The Centre has sent a copy of this policy to all the states to know their views,” the post read.

CM Atishi also replied to the letter by the Union Minister, saying the condition of farmers during the BJP’s tenure had never been worse.

In her reply, she remarked that the BJP discussing farmers’ issues was akin to Dawood lecturing on non-violence.

She stated that the plight of farmers had never been as dire as it had been under the BJP’s rule. Atishi urged Shivraj Singh to address the farmers’ ongoing hunger strike in Punjab over their demands and to ask PM Narendra Modi to engage in dialogue with them.

The CM also appealed to stop politicising farmers’ issues and highlighted that during BJP’s governance, farmers had faced bullets and batons.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh also spoke on the issue and criticised the Central Government over the situation of farmers. “I fail to understand how shameless the BJP can be, that they are still talking about farmers. Do they still have the audacity to speak about farmers?”

He further added, “This is the same party that treated the farmers, the annadata (food providers) of India, like slaves for an entire year on the streets of Delhi and at the borders around Delhi.”

“They treated them like enemies, calling them ‘Pakistanis’ and ‘Khalistanis’. They fired bullets at them, used batons and lobbed tear gas shells on them,” Singh remarked.