Farmer movement cannot be suppressed by government repression, will move forward strongly: Harpal Singh Cheema
Reacting to the centre government’s efforts to stop the supply of electricity and water at the farmers’ agitation sites and by the police to end the movement; senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday said that by stopping the electricity and water of the agitating farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi government was trying to crush the farmers movement, but the farmers were not going to kneel before the government’s repression. “Now the movement will move forward strongly and will uproot the Modi government from power,” he added.
Cheema said that the BJP was sending its ‘goons’ to protest against the farmers and was trying to intimidate them. He said that yesterday, the entire nation saw how the BJP tried to force the farmers sitting on the dharna at the Ghazipur border to vacate and tried to spread panic among them. Addressing the media at the party headquarters, Cheema said that according to the report, nearly 3.5 lakh farmers across the country had committed suicide in the last 25 years. “This is a shame for the whole country. After killing so many farmers, the Modi government has added insult to injury for them by creating black farm laws, snatching farming from them and giving it to its cronies corporate houses,” added Cheema.
He further said that at this time there was a question of life and death for the farmers that if they do not take to the streets now, then the farmers would not survive and it would be difficult for their existence and the future of their families without farming. Cheema said that the farmers were sitting on the Delhi border in severe cold because they were worried about the future. He said that the members of the Modi government were thumping the table in the Parliament and the country’s farmers were struggling in the open, but the government was not listening to them.
“It was very unfortunate that today the Modi government is preventing from giving water to the farmers, who feeds the entire country,” said Cheema. He further said that the struggling farmer leader Rakesh Tikait spoke to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last night and talked about making arrangements for water. “Discharging his duty to the farmers, Arvind Kejriwal ordered the water tankers to be sent to the movement sites,” he added. The AAP leader said that it was very sad that MLAs and Punjab unit incharge Jarnail Singh and co-incharge Raghav Chadha, reached the Singhu border with water tankers, but the Delhi police stopped them from carrying water. He said that Delhi deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was also refused to carry water when he reached Gazipur border with water tankers to meet Rakesh Tikait.
Cheema said that the AAP has been raising the voice of farmers, inside and outside the Parliament. He said that today in the Parliament session, AAP MPs Bhagwant Mann and Sanjay Singh were not allowed inside the Parliament because last time they raised slogans in support of the farmers in front of PM Modi in the Central Hall of Parliament. “With this fear, the Modi government today violated the dignity of democracy and prevented the elected MPs of AAP from entering the Parliament. Efforts are being made to shut down our voice, but we will continue to raise the voice of farmers and people till the last breath,” said Cheema.
Speaking on the incident that occurred at Red Fort, Cheema said that whatever happened on January 26 was unfortunate and whoever was actually responsible for it; action should be taken against those individuals and the party associated with them. “BJP goons are behind whatever happened at the Red Fort. The BJP itself committed violence by sending its goons under a plan to discredit the farmers. Issues of the farmers have not ended due to violence and are still prevalent. They do not want these black laws,” he added. The AAP leader said lakhs of farmers were raising their demands and screaming out loud to the government for the last two months to repeal the three black farm laws.
Cheema said the farmers’ movement was not over yet and it would end only when the Modi government considers its blunders and repeal these black laws. “A country whose farmer is unhappy, that country can never be happy. It is beyond comprehension why the Modi government wants to bring these black laws in spite of opposition from farmers all over India. Why do they want to take away their land and give it to the capitalists?,” said Cheema. He said the Aam Aadmi Party always stands with the farmers and the party workers will be involved in the struggle of the farmers in their respective areas.
Farmer movement cannot be suppressed by government repression will move forward strong
He said that the party workers will join the movement as a ‘common man and farmer’ without the party flag. Cheema further said that it was very shameful that the farmers who feed the whole country were being called a traitor, but the truth was that there were no patriots bigger than the farmers in India. He added that the farmers were the true sons of Mother India and the Modi government should stop calling them as terrorists.
