Farm laws should be withdrawn: Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressed the farmers of Punjab at the Jantar Mantar here on Monday, and said the BJP wanted to take farming away from the farmers and give it to the corporates. He also demanded that the newly introduced farm laws should be withdrawn.

Saying the farmers of Punjab gave birth to Green Revolution by working hard and made the country self-reliant, Kejriwal said, "Only 6 per cent of the crop is procured at MSP across the country, whereas 100 per cent should be procured at MSP."

The Chief Minister said the BJP had promised to implement the Swaminathan Committee report before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which talks about the cost of MSP being 1.5 times more, but after winning the elections, the BJP scrapped the MSP.

"This is the season of harvesting and sowing the fields, and farmers should have been in their fields. But instead they are here at Jantar Mantar to protest, which is a blot on the society," he said.

Kejriwal also claimed that when the AAP was formed, government schools were in a pitiable condition. But instead of shutting these schools down, the party improved them.

The hospitals were also in a sorry state, but instead of shutting them down, AAP improved their conditions.

Hitting out at the Congresss and the Akali Dal, Kejriwal said, "When the BJP formed a committee to draft the farm bills, leaders from these parties were present in the committee, which drafted the clauses of the bills to be passed by the Centre. But now, they are playing games and doing tractor rallies.

"Another party leader was a part of the cabinet that approved the bills and congratulated the BJP for passing them. She sat in the Lok Sabha while the bills were passed, and then resigned afterwards. Do they think people do not understand their intent and actions? Now they are taking out tractor rallies and holding dharnas against a law that they themselves passed."