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A day after being called out for notifying one of the three laws that farmers from across the country are opposing, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that his government had “no choice” in the matter as the “Centre’s three farm laws have been implemented across the nation after the signature of the Hon’ble President, it is not the prerogative of any state to implement or not implement these laws.”
Instead he has claimed that his government helped the farmers in their agitation by foiling the Centre’s “foolproof plan of putting the farmers into jails” as soon as they reached Delhi. Kejriwal said that this was foiled because the Delhi government refused to allow converting nine stadiums into jails. “The Centre is very upset with me,” said Kejriwal and directed his questions towards Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh, and accused the latter of playing “dirty politics on farmers’ protests against three farm bills” passed by the Centre recently. He said that the Punjab CM has made “false allegations against him of passing the three farmer ordinances in Delhi, despite knowing that these three laws are passed by the Centre and it is not the prerogative of any state to implement or not implement.”
He accused the Punjab CM of “friendship with BJP” and asked if he was “under pressure, because of which he is making these false allegations against me?”
Kejriwal also accused the Punjab CM of not acting against these bills “being a member of the central govt’s committee formulating and deliberating on these bills” and said that he was playing politics.
The Delhi CM addressed a digital press conference, on Tuesday and invoked “patriotism” saying “no patriot can sleep peacefully after witnessing all this. This is not only farmers’ fight, this is everyone’s fight. The two meals that we eat in a day, are the result of our farmers’ hard work in the fields. We all have to support our farmers in this fight.”
However, he maintained that he had no choice in notifying the three farmer ordinances in Delhi after the Law was passed by the Centre, “if the implementation of the laws depend on the states, why would the farmers from across the nation reach Delhi to talk to the Centre and put their demands forward? They would have put their demands in front of their chief ministers. No state government can stop these laws from getting implemented or passed because these have been brought in by the Central government.”
He claimed to have been supporting the farmers march by refusing permission to convert Delhi’s stadiums into jails “I was put under a lot of pressure to convert these stadiums into jails, I got several calls from people. But in life, there are some moments when you listen to your own conscience without caring about the results.”
He accused the Punjab CM of making “false allegations against me, abusing me, and talking on behalf of the BJP.” He added that he knew the “pressures” the Punjab CM may be under and said “the reason may be your family is charged with cases and receiving notices from the ED.”
Kejriwal asked, “The people of Punjab want to know, why did Captain Sahab not act against these bills at that time? Two years ago, the BJP formed a committee to formulate and examine these bills, and Captain Sahab was a member of that committee. The people of Punjab are asking you, Captain Sahab, why did you not stop these bills by raising objections in the committee itself? Why did you not intimate people about how the central govt is trying to bring in these black laws? The farmers of Punjab want to know, why did you not stop these farm bills?”
Kejriwal also said that as the farmers are on the borders of Delhi “their sons are fighting on the borders of the nation” and recalled how farmer Sardar Kulwant Singh’s son Sukhbir Singh was martyred, “when some people call the farmers terrorists, anti-nationals, I cannot imagine what the soldiers on the border must be going through, whose parents are being called terrorists.”
“Today, we all have to decide as to whether we are with the farmers, or whether we are with the people who are calling these farmers terrorists. I want to appeal to the people of the country to stand by the farmers, I want to appeal to the people of AAP to not do politics. Be an Indian and serve the farmers together with all the parties. Be a sevadaar, we do not have to politicize this struggle. I want to appeal to the Central govt to accept all the demands of the farmers and provide a legal guarantee of the MSP,” added the CM.
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