Gopal Rai visits Singhu border to take stock of facilities, says AAP firmly behind farmers

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi convener and environment minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday visited the protesting farmers at Singhu Border and took stock of the facilities

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi convener and environment minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday visited the protesting farmers at Singhu Border and took stock of the facilities provided by the Delhi government there.

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After his visit, Rai told reporters that the Kejriwal government stood firmly in support of the farmers’ protest in the Supreme Court on Wednesday when the matter was being heard by the bench of the Chief Justice of India.

The party, later in a statement, said the AAP government told the Supreme Court that the protests will end immediately if the Central government agrees to the farmers’ demands.

“The farmers are protesting even in extreme weather not out of choice but out of compulsion. Their demands are absolutely legitimate and the Central government must listen and accept these demands. But the Central government does not seem interested in looking into the demands of farmers,” Delhi government’s counsel Rahul Mehra told the apex court.

“We have also installed mobile toilets and facilities for drinking water. The BJP-ruled Centre is saying that massive losses are taking place due to the farmer’s protest owing to the closure of the borders. But the farmers wanted to hold the protest at Ramlila Maidan for which the BJP government did not grant them permission,” he said.

The AAP leader said Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh came to Delhi, met Union home minister Amit Shah and returned but did not meet farmers. “And now he is falsely accusing the AAP of faking support. Let me remind him that it was Kejriwal who visited Singhu border. It was Kejriwal who was put under house arrest when he wanted to visit the border again on the day the Bharat Bandh,” Rai said.