Published 20:10 IST, February 9th 2021
Akhilesh Yadav targets PM Modi on farm laws, says 'MSP just in speech, not on ground'
Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his assurance on MSP while addressing the issue of farm laws in Rajya Sabha.
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Samajwadi Party chief and Lok Sabha MP Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday commented on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance on MSP. Speaking in Lok Sabha, Yadav said that the assurance of MSP is only in speeches but not in reality. He also slammed the Centre for not repealing the three farm laws "when farmers are not accepting them".
"Yesterday I heard 'MSP tha, MSP hai, MSP rahega'. It's just in speech but not on ground. Farmers aren't getting it. Had they been getting, they wouldn't have been sitting in Delhi. I congratulate agitating farmers that they have awakened farmers across India," Akhilesh Yadav said during his address in Lok Sabha.
"If Government says that laws are for farmers, why is it not taking it back, if farmers aren't accepting it? People, for whom it has been formed, don't want it. Who is stopping Government? Are allegations that you rolled out carpet for corporates & brought these laws not right?" he questioned while targeting the Centre and in a way commenting to PM Modi's assurance on the continuance of MSP.
"What is being said about the agitations? That people are 'aandolan jivi'. What should I call the people who go out to collect donations? Are they not members of 'chanda jivi sangathan'?" he asked while seemingly taking a dig on those collecting donations for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
"The nation attained independence through agitation. Innumerable rights were received through agitation. Women received the right to vote through agitation. Mahatama Gandhi became the father of the nation because he agitated for Africa, the world & the nation," he said while targeting PM Modi.
PM Modi's address in Lok Sabha
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while replying to a Motion of Thanks on President Ram Nath Kovind's addresses in Rajya Sabha on Monday, gave a stern reply to the opposition over the issue of farm laws. Slamming the opposition for taking a u-turn over farm reforms introduced by the Centre, PM Modi called out the U-turn of the opposition and cited instances of the past when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had endorsed the need to implement changes in the farming sector based on which the new farm laws have been implemented.
PM Modi also gave an assurance on MSP by saying that "MSP was there in the past, it is in present and will continue in future too" and warned that some parties are engaged in propaganda and misleading the farmers.
The prime minister also spoke about the farmers' protests which are being instigated further by a certain group of political interests which are seen in every protest. he urged everyone to identify such people calling them 'Andolan Jeevi'.
"There is a group who are called 'andolan jeevi', they are always present in every protest, whether it is protests of lawyers, students, labourers, or anyone, they will get involved both from the front or from behind a veil. It is a gang who are obsessed with andolan (protests) and keep looking for reasons to somehow be a part of it. We need to identify such people, who reach everywhere and give it an ideological stand and mislead people, our country should be aware of these people," PM Modi said while coining a new full-form for FDI - 'Foreign Destructive Ideology' and warned the country to be wary of it.
The agitating farmers have continued their protests unabated against the farm laws and the BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait who is leading the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) protest has stated that the protests will go on till October after which the SKM will decide on future course of action.
20:10 IST, February 9th 2021