New Delhi, March 22 — Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday blamed the AAP-led Punjab government for evicting protesting farmers from the Shambhu and Khanauri borders with Haryana, rejecting the Opposition’s claims that the BJP was anti-farmer.
Speaking during a discussion on demands for grants for the Agriculture Ministry in the Lok Sabha, Chouhan said at least three Union ministers held talks with farmers “with a lot of humility.” “Till the Lok Sabha elections, Congress and AAP were walking arm-in-arm. Now, they are accusing us of removing the farmers?” he asked, drawing taunts from the treasury benches.
Mocking the Opposition’s efforts to portray the BJP as anti-farmer, Chouhan remarked, “They dug up a mountain only to find a dead rat.” He claimed former prime ministers, including Jawaharlal Nehru, did little for farmers, whereas the BJP-led NDA government introduced initiatives such as the crop insurance scheme and increased MSP for various crops.
Meanwhile, Jalandhar Congress MP Charanjeet Singh Channi accused the BJP and the Punjab government of working “in cahoots” to betray farmers.
Speaking during the same discussion, Channi said the farmers were blocked at the Haryana border last year while heading to Delhi to meet Union ministers.
“Farmers were defamed for blocking roads and destroying the economy. They are food growers, yet they were uprooted from their protest sites by the Punjab government, which first assured them of talks but then forcibly removed them,” the former Punjab CM alleged.
