Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 9: Senior Congress leader and former J&K High Court Bar president, M K Bhardwaj today said that the existence of a rural and agro-based economy and making country a superpower is not possible without uplifting the farmers and protecting their interests.
“The emergence of a strong India is directly related to the socio-economic conditions of the farming community. “Agar Kissan hai to Desh hai, agar Kissan Nahin to Desh bhi Nahin,” he stressed.
Addressing an impressive public meeting in support of the Congress candidate for DDC elections in Bishnah block, Motam, Bhardwaj lamented that the BJP and its so called strong leaders must bear this hard reality in mind and stop making mindless statements in the name of farmers’ welfare and their upliftment. Had there been any truth in their statements, the farmers would not have been protesting on the roads day and night in these harsh wintry conditions.
“You owe an explanation to the nation as to why the farmers have been forced to hit the roads for their genuine and legitimate demands,” he asked the BJP leaders.
Bhardwaj criticised the Narendra Modi Government for not accepting the just demands of the farmers to withdraw the three anti-farmer laws that were passed hurriedly in the two Houses of Parliament without any discussion. The protesting farmers have already clarified that they had neither demanded these laws nor were they consulted. It clearly shows that the laws have been brought by the Government with the interests of the big corporates in mind and not the farmers, he added.
He accused the Government and the BJP of letting down both farmers and soldiers of the country in the matter of protecting their interests. The farmers on protesting on the roads for their existence at a time when they should have been in their fields. On the other hand the Government had humiliated the soldiers and ex-servicemen on the issue of grant of One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP). The entire world is watching the farmers protesting on the roads and subjected to lathi-blows and teargassing. The entire world had also watched the ex-service hitting the roads in protest demanding proper implementation of the OROP which has still not been done. ” How can you make India superpower or ‘vishwaguru’ without protecting interests of the farmers and soldiers,” he asked.
Ashok Dubey, Bharat Bhushan, Diwan Chand Khajuria, Sat Pal Sharma, Subedar Raja Ram Khajuria, Jagdish Raj and oters also spoke on the occasion.
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