Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday offered unqualified support to the farmers’ protest and focused his attack on the BJP by deviating from the Aam Aadmi Party’s stand of targeting the Congress.
The AAP leader also announced plans to contest all elections in six states.
“The violence that happened on January 26 was unfortunate. Whoever is responsible, whoever is actually responsible, not the false cases that are being filed, whichever party is actually responsible, they should get the strictest punishment. But because of violence that day, it does not mean that farmers’ issues are over. Those issues for which they are sitting there (Delhi’s borders) for 60 days are still alive. How will the movement just end?” Kejriwal said.
“A country where the farmers are unhappy can never prosper. We all have to support the farmers in our states, and our support should be non-violent. Whenever you do that, leave your party caps and flags in your homes. The support should be non-political, and you should support them as a common man,” he added.
The Delhi chief minister’s stand is significant at a time when the BJP has launched a campaign against the farmers for the violence on Republic Day. The AAP has blamed people linked to the BJP, such as actor Deep Sidhu, for leading the violence.
“Now, these three bills (farm laws) will snatch the livelihood of farmers, giving it to a few corporates. For the farmers, it is a question of existence. How will the farmers feed their families if farming is taken away from them? It is a question of their existence. If they do not sit in the biting cold, they would not be able to retain their livelihoods,” Kejriwal said.
He announced plans to fight local body and Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in the next two years. Of these, only Punjab — where most of the protesting farmers are from — is ruled by the Congress, with the AAP as the main Opposition.
“Despite (the BJP) getting 325 seats, the UP government has not worked. They tell us that they too want free electricity, good hospitals, good schools, free medicines, free water, free road infrastructure, but since our governments are not able to do it despite a huge mandate, it’s only the AAP that can save the state,” Kejriwal said, naming BJP ministers in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand for allegedly making false promises of development.
The AAP leader added: “All parties play the religion card, which is appealing to Hindus to vote for a Hindu party, appealing to Muslims to vote for a Muslim party, appealing to Thakurs and Pandits to vote for a Thakur and Pandit party. That’s how they please people to vote for their parties.”
