Holding the Centre squarely responsible for the violence that broke out during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said here on Tuesday the Narendra Modi Government should have intervened, held talks and persuaded the farmers from going ahead with the rally in the national Capital.
Talking to media persons here, Pawar charged that the Centre had failed to maintain law and order in the national Capital. “Nobody will support whatever happened in Delhi today, but we cannot ignore the reason behind it," he said.
“The Government had known that 25,000 to 30,000 tractors would enter Delhi. That being the case, the Centre should have intervened, held talks with the farmers and prevailed upon them against going ahead with their rally. But, the Government chose not to intervene,” Pawar said.
Pawar said that the farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh had for the past 50 to 60 days been agitating peacefully and in disciplined manner. “The Government did not take the farmers seriously and resolve their issues. The farmers’ patience ran out and they took out tractors’ rally in Delhi. The Government has failed its responsibility of maintaining law and order in the national capital,” the NCP chief said.
Dubbing the Modi government as “arrogant” and “insensitive” to the farmers’ concerns, Pawar said: “If an agitation takes a violent turn because of the use of power, then the consequences of such a movement will be very serious. We have seen what happened in Punjab in the past. The Modi Government should not commit the sin of turning Punjab into turning Punjab into an unpeaceful state once again”.
“When the Government rushed through the three farm bills without sending them to the joint select committee of parliament, I had a feeling that it might trigger a sharp reaction from the farmers. The farmers from Punjab took a firm stand against the three farm law and have been agitating peacefully for the past 50 to 60 days. To maintain patience for such a long time is indeed unprecedented. But, the Government has consistently refused to budge from its stand. That’s why the talks have failed so far,” Pawar said.
In a related development, Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut slammed the Modi government for its failure to maintain law and order in the national capital. “What was the government doing when the farmers entered the Red Fort? The whole world has watched something unprecedented. Who will we hold accountable for the anarchy witnessed in the national capital? Whose resignation will we demand? Sonia Gandhi, Mamta Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray or Sharad Pawar? Is baat par tyaag patar... rajinama banta hain saheb (This definitely calls for resignation)”.
Maharashtra Congress president and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said it was the sheer “arrogance” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government which resulted in the farmers’ agitation taking a violent turn and leading to the death of a farmer in Delhi.
“As the head of the country’s government, the PM did not acknowledge this historic struggle by the farmers. Though what happened was inappropriate and cannot be supported, the government ignored the demands of the country’s ‘anna-daata’ (food-providers) for so long,” Thorat said.
All India Kisan Sabha state Vice-President Uday Narkar charged that the violence that erupted during the farmers’ tractor rally was the handiwork of some ‘agent provocateurs’ in the violence and said that the Delhi Police must probe how this happened given that the violence broke out after one section of the tractor rally had passed off peacefully.