Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said he will hold one-day fast on Monday in response to a call given by the agitating farmers and urged his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) volunteers as well as the people of the country to join in. Kejriwal also asked the BJP-ruled Centre to shun 'arrogance' and scrap three farm laws as demanded by agitating farmers and bring a Bill to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for agricultural produce.
Kejriwal said that he will hold a day-long fast on Monday in support of the farmers and urged the AAP volunteers and supporters to do the same. Slamming the BJP for calling farmers anti-nationals, he said, "So many ex-servicemen, sportspersons, doctors, lawyers, traders have been supporting the protests in some way or other – are they all anti-national?"
“The BJP is mistaking the farmers' movement as a small movement consisting of only a few people which is wrong and that every person in this country understands the intricacies of these laws and wants these laws to be repealed,” he said.
The chief minister appealed to the Centre to put an end to their ego scrap these farm laws and accept the demands of the farmers. "The farmers appealed to the people to fast for a day in their support. I will also fast in the support of our farmers. I want to appeal to the supporters and volunteers of AAP to also fast in support of the farmers,” he said.
"For the last few days, a few Central government ministers and BJP leaders are calling the farmers anti-nationals and they are terming this a movement of anti-nationals. The thousands of ex-servicemen and ex-army men, who fought for the country by risking their own lives are sitting with the farmers on the borders. Thousands of army-men are praying for the farmers from their homes. I want to ask the BJP, are they anti-nationals?
"I could not help but reminisce the days of Anna Hazare’s movement. Even in those days, when we were sitting in Ramlila Maidan during the movement, the then Congress government propagated and planted several stories against us in the media, in print, and on TV channels. They called us anti-nationals. The attempts made by Congress to malign our movement in those days, the same kind of attempts are made by BJP against the farmers' movements today. They should not dare to call the farmers of the nation anti-nationals," he added.
Kejriwal said that these laws mean that any person, who has a lot of money, can hoard any amount of grains with them. "This also means that there will be high inflation. People can hoard till the time the inflation rate doubles every year. For instance, the prices of wheat grains will double from Rs 20 this year to Rs 40 next year, and then Rs 80, and then Rs 160, and so on," he added.
“Nobody should be mistaken that only a few people are in support of the farmers and that nobody except those sitting on the farmers are in support of the farmers. Each and every person in the country understands these laws. The people who are not able to reach the borders due to their schedules are still supporting the farmers,” he said.