PM blatantly lying on laws: Farm leaders

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25

Prime Minister Narender Modi, while addressing the nation today, once again proved that he was ruling by spreading lies, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal said while talking to The Tribune today. He was responding to the address by PM Modi earlier during the day, attempting to allay farmer fears that private firms might grab their lands under the new laws enacted by the Centre.

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AAP leaders and MPs Bhagwant Mann and Sanjay Singh on Friday protested against farm laws in the Central Hall of Parliament in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

No farmers’ baat: Congress

The PM’s message to farmers was nothing more than a “dreamer’s paradise”, said Congress leader Sukhjinder Randhawa. He said the PM was not listening to the “Mann ki Baat” of farmers.

Rajewal said, “If a PM’s political personality is laid on the foundation of blatant lies, no country can run smoothly,” referring to Modi’s arguments that corporates would be no threat to farmers’ lands. “What Modi utters is blatant lies,” he said.

Responding to the part of Modi’s speech that “farmers will enter into an agreement for finished products and not for land”, general secretary of BKU (Ugrahan) Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said, “Here begins the trap laid out to capture farmers’ lands. We know that more than 85 per cent of farmers in the country have less than four acres of land. In the first step, the corporate will manipulate the market where farmers will get only what they are given. They will not get the deserving price. This will lead to the already-suffering farmer plunge into deeper financial crisis. Ultimate, this category of farmers will be forced to sell their land to the same corporate.”

Denying the argument of the government that farmers had no fear of losing their land, farm leader Rajinder Singh said, “If the Prime Minister is so sure, why does he not talk to us? It is because he knows we will counter his lies. We have the facts to prove him wrong.”

General Secretary of BKU (Dakunda) Jagmohan Singh said, “Perhaps, Modi is the first Prime Minister who lies so blatantly. We have already shown on the basis of facts how our land will be taken away. We met the Union Ministers four times but they did not have any reply. The people of the country have understood that the government is lying.”

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