“Don’t use farmers for politics,” – is BJP’s reactions to farmers’ stir

New Delhi: The ruling BJP on Monday castigated the opposition Congress party for what it said trying to “use” Indian farmers to serve their political campaign.

Reacting to the countrywide farmers’ protest against the recently enacted three contentions agrarian laws, BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav shared a video showing a tractor being put to flames and that had gone viral.

“Farmers venerate their farm equipment. They don’t set tractors on fire,” he tweeted.

Yadav, who is one of the senior general secretaries in the new team announced by BJP national president J P Nadda, further wrote: “This burning of tractors by Congress and other opposition parties in the name of farmers is shameful. Don’t use India’s food producers for your politics”.

The union government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself have described the three Bills as part of much necessary ‘historic’ reforms in the agriculture sector.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and other BJP leaders have also accused the Congress-led Opposition of misleading the country on the Bills.

Farmers across the country under the aegis of Congress and other parties have launched the protest opposing vehemently three controversial farm bills. President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent for the three contentious bills. In fact, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal quit the ministry on September 17 and at a later stage, the oldest NDA constituent, Akali Dal, also parted ways from the ruling alliance.

Lone Sikh member of the Union ministry, MoS Civil Aviation and Housing, Hardeep Singh Puri also took to the social network to attack the “political hooliganism”.

“Anyone who knows anything about our culture will know that a farmer will never burn his tractor or set his crop on fire. These are acts of political hooliganism by those who seek to build yet another fake narrative. They should know there is no place for violence in a democracy,” Mr Puri tweeted.

In another missive, he said: “That they chose to do this on the birth anniversary of Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Ji is even more condemnable. The Opposition did not have the required numbers in Rajya Sabha. The taint produced in the House will take years to go away”.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the passage of agriculture bills in the Lok Sabha and slammed the Opposition and also claimed that the new laws would be “Raksha Kawach (farmers’ shields) against middlemen.