BJP MP irks party over opposition to agriculture laws
Stepping-up his opposition to the Modi-Government’s policies towards farmers, BJP Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi on Saturday shared a video purportedly showing a man setting fire to his paddy crop after his “vain efforts to sell it” and demanded a re-look at the agriculture policy.
Varun, who has been frequently raising issues which are unpalatable to the Government and also questioning its commitment to the people’s well-being, has now again drawn attention to the “plight” of farmers who are not able to sell their agriculture produce
in “mandis”.
“Samodh Singh, a farmer of Uttar Pradesh, had been running around mandis for the last 15 days to sell his paddy crop. When paddy did not sell, he in frustration put fire to it himself. Where has this system brought the farmers? The need of the hour is to rethink our agriculture policy,” he said.
This week, Varun also posted video criticising the Yogi Government for doing little to help-out people faced by the flood in the Terai belt in the State.
Much to the BJP Government’s discomfiture in the poll-bound State, the BJP MP from Pilibhit, said “much of the Terai is badly flooded. ... It’s painful that when the common man needs the system the most, he’s left to fend for himself. If every response is individual-led then what does ‘governance’ mean?”
The BJP has, so far, not reacted to Varun’s comments but is unlikely to ignore them any longer given the fact that they are drawing enough attention from the rival political parties and providing fuel to the agitating farmers, demanding scrapping of three central farm laws.
The agitating farmers apprehend that the laws would put an end to the traditional “Mandi system” of selling and buying their agriculture produce and may also phase-out Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism.
The Supreme Court has put central farm laws under suspended animation.
The BJP MP who has been indirectly backing the protesting farmers, has, so far, not explicitly spoken against the controversial laws which have otherwise polarised non-BJP political parties against the BJP.
