Around 30,000 agitating farmers tried to enter the national capital on Tuesday to express their demands, which remained unfulfilled, but were welcomed with batons and tear gas by Delhi Police. Condemning the action, jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav took a jibe at the central government by saying that in BJP’s tenure the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan‘ (hail the army, hail the youth) has changed to ‘Mar Jawan, Mar Kisan‘ (die army, die farmers).
Reacting on the use of batons by the Delhi Police on the farmers trying to enter the capital, Yadav took to Twitter and wrote, “On the occasion of former prime minister Lal Bahudur Shastri’s birth anniversary, who gave the slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, the government assuring Acche Din changed the slogan to Mar Jawan, Mar Kisan. #FarmersMarch #KisanKranti“
Condemning the police action, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said, as ANI reports, “It reconfirms the fact that Modi government is anti-farmers. Instead of providing relief to the farmers, they are exasperating the crisis, further forcing farmers to be under debt burden and distress suicides. We have not seen such an agrarian distress in India since Independence.”
Even Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the Union government of playing politics with the farmers. He said, “This government has not fulfilled the promises it made to the farmers, so it is all but natural that farmers would protest. It is unfortunate and we fully support the farmers.”
Congress president Rahul Gandhi too expressed his thoughts and slammed the BJP government. He took to twitter and wrote, “Taking to twitter on Tuesday, Gandhi said, “On the occasion of International Day of Non-Violence, two-day Gandhi Jayanti convention by BJP completed successfully in Delhi. There were brutal attack on the farmers coming to Delhi. Now the farmers can’t even come to the capital and express their deeds. #KisanKrantiYatra”
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