Farmers’ protest: Modi govt has denied rights of farmers, betrayed them, says Brinda Karat

Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat on Tuesday flayed the BJP-led central government, accusing it of betraying farmers and denying their rights.

Karat’s remarks came on a day thousands of farmers called for a 'Delhi Chalo' protest, as the national capital turned into a virtual fortress with authorities stopping them from entering the city.

“The Narendra Modi government has not only denied the rights of farmers and workers, but also betrayed them. Why do they (the Centre) say no to the law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for crops?” she said.

Karat is in Ranchi to participate in a state committee meeting of the party.

The CPI(M) leader also said the central government was very late in announcing Bharat Ratna for renowned agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan.

“Swaminathan stood for the rights of farmers, but his formula to help them has not been implemented by the Centre,” she said.

Karat also claimed that farmers across the country are calling assurances given by the prime minister as “farce and fraud”.

“Farmers all over India are going to observe ‘Gramin Bandh’ on February 16. This is the big struggle of the labour class,” she said.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha had announced that farmers would head to Delhi on Tuesday to press for their demands, including the enactment of a law to guarantee an MSP for crops.

Besides a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are also demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver and withdrawal of police cases.

Karat also slammed the BJP over the arrest of former chief minister Hemant Soren, asserting that “there is clearly no case” against him.

“These are manufactured charges just to intimidate and bully him (Soren)...,” the CPI(M) politburo member alleged.

Soren was arrested on January 31 after a seven-hour grilling by the ED in a money laundering case linked to a land fraud.

He resigned as the chief minister before that.

She asserted that the language used by BJP leaders in Delhi against Soren was “shocking, shameful and insulting”.

“They called him an absconder. How can such language be used about an elected chief minister?” Karat added.