Smriti Irani slams Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal over farm laws
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Smriti Irani on Friday came down heavily on the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party for spreading misinformation over farm laws. She said that the Congress party had promised similar amendments in its manifesto and that the Kejriwal government notified the new laws in November in the national capital.
"Rahul Gandhi favoured amending the AMPC Act when the Congress-UPA was in power," she told India TV. She said that Rahul Gandhi was himself not available for discussion when the farm bills were introduced in the Parliament.
Irani said that Rahul Gandhi asked Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to use the state's administration to fuel the agitation.
"The Delhi government notified the law in November and now doing the drama in Assembly. Farmers are suffering only because of these two parties (AAP and Congress)," she said.
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She asked why Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal are opposing the laws that state no one can take hold of farmers' land and payment should be made to farmers within 72 hours.
"We want to know what clause is causing trouble to them," she said.
Irani also questioned the silence of Arvind Kejriwal and Amarinder over the slogans raised by protestors against PM Narendra Modi. "They have not even condemned this," she said.
She said that the opposition's agenda is "Modi bhagao" but the public's agenda is "opposition hatao".
To a question about West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's remark wherein she dubbed the "BJP a party of outsiders", she said, "How can an Indian be called as an outsider in Bengal? I want to ask Mamata why it is not acceptable to her when a Hindustani visits Bengal? She is frustrated and afraid of the public. Her defeat is imminent."
"The Bharatiya Janata Party will win in West Bengal," the BJP leader said.
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Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, are currently staying put at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in protest against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. They have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.
However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture. The government argues that the three farm laws will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.
