Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday blamed the Congress for wanting to create a “situation of unrest” in the country and said the party has been provoking the farmers agitating against the farm laws.
A day after violence broke out in the Capital after a section of protesting farmers marched to the Red Fort, Javadekar said, the government has already held 10 rounds of talks with the farmers and offered to put in abeyance the farm laws for 18 months, but the Congress does not want a resolution to the stalemate.
“These laws make an effort to give the farmers an option but the Congress does not want this to happen. I feel those who have lost elections, they are all getting together to spoil the atmosphere in the country,” Javadekar said.
To bolster the BJP’s claims that the farmer protests are being stoked by the Congress, the minister said, barring Punjab where the Congress is in power, farmers elsewhere are not agitating against the laws.
The Congress, however, pinned the blame for the violence on the BJP. Addressing the media, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said it was a conspiracy to malign farmers and discredit them. “The facts (that) have unfolded over the last 24 hours, a concerted conspiracy, aided and abetted by the Modi Government took place to malign the entire farmers’ movement. A set of people with premeditated motive of violence, who have nothing to do with the ‘Samyukt Kisan Morcha’, they were permitted to enter the premises, the sanctum sanctorum of the Red Fort, the pride of India, climb on to its columns and put a flag there, this is sacrilege. This is unacceptable and those who did it, Deep Sidhu and Gang, they have been seen in the past cohabiting with the Prime Minister of India and Home Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and Shri Amit Shah, ample evidence of which is now available in the public domain. Instead of arresting them, then and there, they were permitted to go back.”
{{/usCountry}}The Congress, however, pinned the blame for the violence on the BJP. Addressing the media, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said it was a conspiracy to malign farmers and discredit them. “The facts (that) have unfolded over the last 24 hours, a concerted conspiracy, aided and abetted by the Modi Government took place to malign the entire farmers’ movement. A set of people with premeditated motive of violence, who have nothing to do with the ‘Samyukt Kisan Morcha’, they were permitted to enter the premises, the sanctum sanctorum of the Red Fort, the pride of India, climb on to its columns and put a flag there, this is sacrilege. This is unacceptable and those who did it, Deep Sidhu and Gang, they have been seen in the past cohabiting with the Prime Minister of India and Home Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and Shri Amit Shah, ample evidence of which is now available in the public domain. Instead of arresting them, then and there, they were permitted to go back.”
{{/usCountry}}The BJP retaliated by alleging that that the Congress is stoking unrest because of its poor electoral performance. Javadekar said just as the popularity of the BJP and Prime Minister Modi is continuing to increase, the Left parties and the Congress continue to face rejection in elections.
“The Congress is disappointed, it has been losing elections and the Communists are also losing (in elections), therefore in West Bengal they are trying to forge a relationship. They just want to create unrest through violence so that police have to take action or fire and there should be destruction of life and assets. The Congress is following provocative politics now,” he said.
The minister who holds the portfolios of information and broadcasting and environment and forests praised the Delhi Police for its handling of the situation on the ground. He said, “The Delhi Police showed exemplary restrain. They were attacked with swords, sticks, stones but the police showed restraint and this is admirable. The whole situation was brought under control within a short span of time.”
“Congress and Rahul Gandhi should apologise because such kind of negative politics is not good for the country,” he said.