New Delhi, (Samajweekly) A day after the police barricaded the national capital’s borders with barbed wire and put spikes on the streets, the Delhi Congress on Tuesday accused the Arvind Kejriwal government in the city for helping the force in digging up roads with cranes, installing iron grills and spikes, and cementing the barriers to the ground through the PWD.
Addressing a press conference here at the Delhi Congress office, former MLA Alka Lamba said, “Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s so-called sympathy for the farmers’ agitation was a put-on drama to mislead the farmers, as he has been acting with ulterior motives, at the behest of the Modi Government at the Centre.”
Slamming the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for acting on the behest of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, she said, “AAP spokesperson and in-charge of Punjab wrote a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, stressing the urgent need for police protection for protesting farmers of Punjab, whereas the Delhi government has been helping the Central government-controlled Delhi Police in digging up roads with cranes, installing iron grills and spikes, and cementing the barriers to the ground through the PWD,” she alleged.
Her remarks came a day after the Delhi Police put barricades at the Delhi-Haryana Singhu and Tikri borders and Delhi-Uttar Pradesh Ghazipur border with the iron spikes, barbed wires to stop farmers from entering into the national capital.
Thousands of farmers from Haryana, Punjab and westrn Uttar Pradesh have been protesting demanding the repealing of three farm laws since November 26 last year.
The Delhi Police adopted this new technique after violent clashes on January 26 ‘Kisan Gantantra parade’ in several parts of the city. The agitating farmers also hoisted a pennant at the Red fort after violent clashes with the police personnel. The Delhi Police had filed several cases against the farmer union leaders for the clashes.
Lamba said that if Kejriwal was so concerned about the safety and security of the farmers, why didn’t he write letters to the Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Firing salvos at the AAP government in Delhi, she said, “Why did Kejriwal keep quiet when the anti-farmer laws were notified by the Central government on June 5 last year and why did the Delhi government endorsed one of the three Laws?”
She alleged that AAP national convenor had neither tweeted, nor gave a press statement, against the three farm laws.
“He was an active party in suppressing the farmers’ voice, and weakening their agitation,” she accused.
Lashing out at the AAP government in the city, former MLA and Congress leader Adarsh Shastri said, “Kejriwal’s government attitude towards the farmers’ protest, demanding the repeal of the three black laws, has been one of conspiracy, drama and betrayal.”
He said that Kejriwal’s “secret agenda” is to become the “Chief Minister of Punjab”. “And that was the only reason for showing an outward display of sympathy for the farmers’ agitation,” Shastri said.
Firing salvos at the Delhi government, he said, “How could the DTC, which is under the Delhi government, provide buses without the Chief Minister’s knowledge, to transport the police personnel and take arrested farmers to jails?”
