The BJP-led Gujarat Government on Wednesday refuted Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal’s allegation on land acquisition, suicide of farmers in Gujarat and plight of small industries saying that the national convener of the AAP is spreading false information to tarnish the Gujarat Chief Minister’s image. Kejriwal is also contesting against the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi.
The State Government spokesperson said that despite his (Kejriwal) efforts to gain cheap publicity out of ‘falsehood’, he would neither succeed in reducing Modi’s popularity nor lessen the pace of development during the tenure of Narendra Modi Government in Gujarat.
In a point-to-point rebuttal, Modi Government said that the allegations made by Kejriwal during his visit to Varanasi might get him cheap publicity but by spreading counterfeit information one cannot achieve anything. On the issue of land acquisition, the Modi Government countered that even the apex court had appreciated Gujarat Government’s policy on land acquisition. “Farmers have been compensated at current market prices and that there was no forcible acquisition of any farmer’s land,” said the Government.
Criticising Kejriwal’s claim, that over 5,000 farmers have committed suicide due to crop failure in Gujarat, he said that in the past one decade only one farmer has committed suicide and that was for personal reasons. “In order to create a web of figures, Kejriwal considered those living as dead,” said the statement.
Kejriwal stated that if Modi will come into power, he would allow FDI in retail segment as result of which small businessmen would be left unemployed. On this, the State Government said that the BJP has already clarified its policy on retail segment and from the beginning the party has been against FDI in retail sector.
While countering the claim of closure of more than 60,000 small scale industries the spokesperson said that in Gujarat more than 5 lakh SMEs have been registered and of them 95 per cent were functioning smoothly.