Arvind Kejriwal at Kisan Rally

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) president Arvind Kejriwal said the Republic Day violence in the national capital was orchestrated by the Centre as he hit out at the BJP over the months-long farmers’ protest against the three newly enacted agri sector laws. “The Centre is behind the Red Fort violence, not the farmers. It misguided the farmers who did not know Delhi roads,” Kejriwal was quoted as saying by The Hindustan Times.

Addressing a ‘kisan mahapanchayat’ in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday, Kejriwal also reportedly said BJP leaders are lying to farmers on the issue of Minimum Support Price (MSP).

Regarding the tractor parade that farmers took out on Republic Day, the AAP chief said he was aware of all that happened during the day in the national capital as he is the chief minister of the Union territory. “The farmers of our country are unhappy. It has been more than 90 days that they have been protesting near Delhi along with their families. More than 250 farmers have died in these three months but the Centre has done nothing about it,” Kejriwal said. He said farmers have faced such atrocities in the hands of the Centre that had not been meted out to the community even by British rulers.

Amid slogans of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan (Long Live Farmers, Long Live Soldiers)’ and ‘Kala Kanoon Vapas Lo (Repeal The Black Laws)’, the AAP leader said false cases are being slapped on protesters. “Our farmers can be anything but not traitors. However, they have faced sedition charges. One son of the country is defending the country’s borders, the other is at the border of Delhi.”

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his recent speech in Parliament wherein he had said the MSP system would stay, Kejriwal asked where in Uttar Pradesh MSP was paid.

He also took on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over dues of sugarcane farmers in the state that he said was pending for two years. The cumulative backlog, Kejriwal said, was Rs18,000 crore. “Their minister keeps saying that MSP was there and will remain. But you tell me if farmers get MSP in any of the mandis. They lie day and night. Yogi Adityanath lies,” he was quoted as saying by NDTV.