‘They are playing tricks,’ PM Modi hits out at Opposition as he indicates there is no going back on farm laws

The farmers of Punjab who have entered the national capital from 5 borders and are holding their guard to protest against the ‘Farm Bills’ which were introduced by the Centre early in the year during the Monsoon session have been given words of assurance by the Prime Minister of the country. Sensing the discomfort of the genuine protestors (as there have been news reports of Khalistani elements and political parties sabotaging the movement), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi tried to clear the air surrounding the bill which has been twisted and wrongly manipulated to the innocent farmers.

PM Modi said that a new trend has surfaced in the country where protests are based on creating doubts through misinformation. “Decades of deceit are making farmers apprehensive, and they see the new move in the same manner but now there is no deceit. Work is being done with intentions as pure as Ganga Jal,” said PM Modi while reaching out to the farmers’ community.

“What we are doing now is not with ‘chhal”(deceit) but (our work is) like ‘pavitra Ganga jal” (holy Ganges water),” he further added.

PM Modi’s attack on the opposition parties came even as Congress’ ‘young’ party leader Rahul Gandhi who is having a leisurely vacation on the beaches of Goa alleged that the new laws are meant for Prime Minister”s ”two-three friends“, and are aimed at stealing from the farmers. After the debacle of Bihar elections, Rahul Gandhi has been holed out in Goa and subsequently, has been conducting his entire politics over the echo-chambers of Twitter. If Rahul Gandhi is indeed concerned about the cause of the Farmers then he should have hit the roads along with farmers by now. However, with West Bengal elections some 6 months away, the Gandhi scion is in a wanderlust mode.

What Rahul Gandhi conveniently tried to sidestep is the fact that the entire purpose of Farm bills is to eliminate middlemen, who love to gobble up a commission from the clueless farmers. The middlemen system is fairly prevalent in Punjab and Haryana and hence, most of the protests are concentrated in these areas. The Farm Bill is not taking away the safety net of MSP from the farmers, albeit it is creating a market where any farmer through his free will is able to sell his produce without the pressure of Mandi Mafia’s of APMC. As mentioned earlier, the whole movement started with farmers demanding to have a civil conversation with the centre over the miscommunication of MSP.

While Farmer’s protest is more than welcome, the centre is wary of a repeat of anti-CAA riots where Delhi was thrown into flames of anarchy by a clear, co-ordinated plan executed to the tee by the opposition and non-state actors. Some farmers threatening to cut off the national capital from the rest of the country by blocking the borders is eerily reminiscent of Sharjeel Imam’s ‘cut the chicken neck comments’ during the anti-CAA riots which eventually landed him in hot soup. The government is precisely trying to stop such a repeat of events and thus the Farmer’s march has been slowed down.

Read more: ‘Indira thok di. Modi kiChhatimein…’ Congress-backed farmers’ protest in Punjab becomes a Khalistani agitation

The left-liberal cabal has once again found this as an opportunity to sow the seeds of disharmony and with parties like AAP actively trying to leverage political mileage of the entire event, it needs to be seen if there are some more Tahir Shah’s hiding amongst the protestors masquerading as farmers in plain sight.