While Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said the announcement for the repeal of the three agriculture sector laws was a “defeat of arrogance” of the Narendra Modi government, farmers agitating near Shahjahanpur at the Rajasthan-Haryana border celebrated the decision, danced to drum beats, and burst firecrackers with the claim of having achieved victory.
The farmers, who have stayed put at the inter-State border since December 12, 2020, raised slogans such as ‘Modi haara, kisan jeeta’ (Modi lost, farmers won) and ‘Kisan ekta zindabad’ (long live farmers unity).
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha will shortly take a decision on lifting the dharna as the Haryana Government has not allowed the protesters to proceed to New Delhi.
Kisan Union State president and Alwar Zila Pramukh Balbir Singh Chhillar, who led the agitation, said farmers would deliberate on extending help to the families of those who had lost their lives. “This is a victory of the historic, peaceful and biggest agitation of poor farmers. The Modi government left no stone unturned to defame us,” he said.
Talking to reporters at the Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters here, Mr. Gehlot said the BJP government at the Centre had decided to repeal the farm laws “out of panic” in view of the upcoming Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh. “The Centre has failed to understand the farmers’ sentiments,” he said.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the Rajasthan Assembly had passed three Amendment Bills in 2020 to stop the applicability of the Central Acts and make them ineffective in certain respects. “On the other hand, BJP leaders at the Centre remained arrogant as ever and refused to budge. This is not the way a democratic government should function,” he said.
‘Crisis of credibility’
Mr. Gehlot said farmers’ groups were still cautious about the implementation of the Prime Minister’s announcement because of the BJP government’s “crisis of credibility”. “That is why we have been repeatedly warning about the direction to which the country is being taken...There is an all-pervading atmosphere of fear, distrust and intolerance, and an unprecedented pressure on institutions,” he said.
