NEW DELHI: BJP MP Varun Gandhi continues to sing the jarring note in his party as he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, requesting him to accept farmers’ demand for MSP guarantee for their crops and also sought action against Union minister Ajay Mishra, holding him responsible for the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri.
In a letter to PM Modi, the MP from Pilibhit in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh said that till this demand of farmers’ is not met, their movement will not end. He had come out in consistent support of the protesting farmers, when his party had been opposed to the demand by farmers to repeal the farm laws and the entire protest was targeted at the BJP-led government.
Gandhi’s remarks came a day after the PM in his address to the nation announced repeal of the three farm laws which triggered a year of protests by farmers. The announcement of the withdrawal of the contentious laws was welcomed by leaders of the farmers’ unions spearheading the agitation even as they said protests will continue till the measures are repealed in Parliament and Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops gets legal guarantee.
Gandhi thanked Modi for his “large-heartedness” in announcing the decision to repeal the three farm laws, but added “more than 700 farmer brothers and sisters have been martyred in this movement”, as they peacefully protested in extremely difficult and hostile conditions. “If this decision had been taken earlier, innocent lives would not have been lost,” he dared to say in his letter.
In his letter posted on Twitter, Gandhi underscored the need to accept the farmers’ demand for legal guarantee of MSP. “This movement will not end without the resolution of this demand and there will be widespread anger amongst them, which will continue to emerge in one form or the other. Therefore, it is very important for the farmers to get the statutory guarantee of MSP for their crops,” he wrote.
The BJP leader said the legal binding on MSP will give sizeable economic security cover to farmers and will empower small and marginal farmers.
“My humble request to you is that the government must immediately accept this demand in the interest of our nation,” Gandhi said in the letter.
Describing the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, in which farmers were among eight people killed, as heartbreaking and a “blemish on our democracy”, Gandhi said, “… It is my request to you that appropriately strict action is taken against the Union minister who has been connected to this incident, so that there is a fair enquiry.” The BJP MP made the request to the PM without taking Mishra’s name. He also claimed that the Lakhimpur incident was outcome of the adversarial atmosphere created against the farmers’ movement by provocative statements of many leaders sitting in senior positions.
Gandhi also demanded that Rs 1 crore compensation be given to farmers “martyred” in this movement against the laws and that all “politically motivated false” FIRs against the protesting farmers be quashed.
Concluding his letter, Gandhi said that farmers expect that their demands will be resolved in a timely and sensitive manner and asserted that democracy runs on constitutionality, discourse and empathy.