New Delhi: Opposition parties have come out in support of protesting farmers and lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for using tear gas shells and barricading roads to the national capital in the wake of their “Delhi Chalo” protest.The BJP on the other hand, has said that their commitment to the annadatas (food providers) has shone through the Modi government’s policies.The ruling party’s claim comes amidst the news agency ANI’s post on Haryana Police testing tear gas drones in anticipation of the march. Several prominent social media accounts which were updating on the protests appear to have been withheld in India.#WATCH | Haryana Police today tested tear gas shell-dropping drone system at Shambhu border near Ambala, in view of ‘Delhi Chalo’ farmers protest pic.twitter.com/333ZMuSoUe— ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2024Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during his ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur announced that the grand old party has decided to give a legal guarantee to MSP if it comes to power after the Lok Sabha elections.“Farmers in the country are not getting what they should get. Farmers are marching to Delhi but they are being stopped, tear gas shells are being fired on them and they are being jailed. What are the farmers saying? Just that we should get the fruits of our hard work. The BJP gave Bharat Ratna to M.S. Swaminathan. But the cause to which Swaminathan devoted his life, his recommendations on MSP, they are not ready to do. Swaminathan report clearly said that farmers should get MSP as a legal right. But BJP is not doing this. If INDIA alliance forms the government we will give MSP’s legal guarantee,” he said while addressing a public gathering.Earlier on Tuesday, addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the Modi government will be remembered in history for its “cruelty, barbarity, repression and oppression against farmers” and questioned why they are being stopped from coming to Delhi.“Whenever history is written, the 10-year tenure of the Modi government will be known as the period of cruelty, barbarity, repression and oppression against farmers,” he said.“To suppress the voice of farmers, the BJP government has converted the country’s capital Delhi into a ‘police cantonment’, as if an enemy has attacked the power in Delhi.”Heavy security has been deployed along Delhi’s borders including barricades and barbed wire. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 have also been imposed in Delhi.On Tuesday, Haryana police fired tear gas shells at the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana, as farmers broke barricades in an attempt to continue their march.The ‘Delhi Chalo’ call was given by the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) led by Sarvan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, respectively, and other unions demanding for a law on the Minimum Support Price, withdrawing criminal cases filed during the 2020 farm protest, a farm loan waiver among others.A meeting between Union ministers and farmers’ leaders held on Monday to prevent a 2020-21 like agitation in the national capital, failed to yield a consensus with the farmers deciding to go ahead with their march to Delhi on Tuesday.Earlier Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X, that the Modi government had failed to fulfil its promises to farmers in the last 10 years including doubling farmers’ income, implementing the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission on MSP, and providing legal status to MSP.West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has also lent her support to the farmers’ protest and said that the agitation exposes the Modi government’s “failure to support farmers and labourers.”How can our country progress when the farmers are attacked with tear gas shells for fighting for their basic rights? I strongly condemn the brutal assault on our farmers by the BJP.The Central Govt.’s failure to support farmers and labourers, coupled with futile PR stunts,…— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 13, 2024In a statement, Banerjee condemned the “brutal assault” on the farmers.“How can our country progress when the farmers are attacked with tear gas shells for fighting for their basic rights? I strongly condemn the brutal assault on our farmers by the BJP,” she said.“The Central Government’s failure to support farmers and labourers, coupled with futile PR stunts, exposes the illusion of ‘Viksit Bharat.’ Instead of suppressing their protest, BJP must focus on humbling their inflated egos, power-hungry ambitions, and inadequate governance that has harmed our nation.”The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, earlier on Tuesday denied permission to the Union government to convert the Bawana stadium into a temporary jail for farmers.The letter from Delhi home minister said that the farmers’ demands are “genuine” and that every citizen has the Constitutional right to protest.AAP’s new Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal has also written a letter to Modi urging him to “personally intervene” and lend a “compassionate ear” to the farmers’ demands.“The recent recognition of Shri M.S. Swaminathan and Chaudhary Charan Singh with the Bharat Ratna has brought a moment of pride for our agricultural community. However , it is disheartening to witness the same community now facing tear gas and impediments on their journey to secure their rightful demands,” she wrote.BJP: Annadata SammanThe BJP, on the other hand has said that the Modi government has remained steadfast in its commitment to farmers through its policies.“Along with Nari Shakti, Yuva Shakti, Annadatas have been the pillar for which the prime minister has been working for in a steadfast manner,” said Shazia Ilmi, national spokesperson, BJP to The Wire.“We have implemented policies for farmers benefits, whether it is giving health cards, provision of loans at low interests or samman rashi.”On the Congress’ promise to legalise MSP, Ilmi questioned why the party had not implemented it earlier.The BJP has posted multiple times on its X account, highlighting how the Modi government has been empowering farmers through its schemes with the hashtag AnnadataKaSamman.“Our government is fully committed to providing 100 percent benefits of the schemes to the farmer brothers and sisters,” reads one post.In a series of posts, it also said that the Modi government has increased the MSP on wheat, barley, masoor, channa among others in comparison to what was being provided prior to 2014.In another post, the BJP said that farmers had become “self-reliant due to increase in food production capacity during the Modi government.”
