Arvind Kejriwal to fast in support of farmers, slams BJP govt. for anti-national slur

Slamming the BJP for calling farmers anti-nationals, he said, "So many ex-servicemen, sportspersons, doctors, lawyers, traders have been supporting the protests in some way or other – are they all anti-national?"

He said that the BJP is mistaking the farmers' movement as a small movement comprising of only a few people which is wrong, and that every person in this country understands the intricacies of these laws and wants these laws to be repealed.

He appealed to the Centre to put an end to their ego, scrap these farm laws and accept the demands of the farmers.

Mr Kejriwal said, "The farmers have appealed to the people to fast for a day in their support, I will also fast tomorrow in the support of our farmers. I want to appeal to the supporters and volunteers of AAP to also fast in support of the farmers. I know thousands and lakhs of people who are with the farmers, they cannot reach the borders because of their day-to-day schedule but are supporting the farmers. I want to appeal to all those people to fast for a day to support the demands of the farmers."

He said, "For the last few days, a few Central government ministers and BJP leaders are calling the farmers anti-nationals, they are terming this a movement of anti-nationals. The thousands of ex-servicemen and ex-army men, who fought for the country by risking their own lives, are sitting with the farmers on the borders.

"Thousands of armymen are praying for the farmers from their homes. I want to ask the BJP, are they anti-nationals too? Many national and international players who have brought laurels for the nation are sitting on the borders in support of the farmers. Are they also anti-nationals? I personally know a few singers and Bollywood celebrities, who come from farmers families and are supporting the farmers, are they also anti-nationals? Many doctors who are supporting the farmers, are they also anti-nationals?

"Today, a large group of lawyers reached the borders to support the farmers, are the lawyers of our nation anti-nationals? I met many traders from Punjab a few days back, who told me that traders from not only Punjab but traders from across the nation are supporting the farmers, are they also anti-national?"

"I could not help but reminisce about the days of Anna Hazare Ji's movement. Even in those days, when we were sitting in Ramlila Maidan during the movement, the then Congress government propagated and planted several stories against us in the media, in print, and on TV channels. They called us anti-nationals. The attempts made by the Congress to malign our movement then, the same kind of attempts are being made by the BJP against the farmers' movements today. They should not dare to call the farmers of the nation anti-nationals," he added.

Mr Kejriwal said that the BJP believes that that this movement comprises of only a few farmers from Punjab and Haryana. He said, "I want to tell them that their belief is wrong. I attended a wedding some days back. I asked a few people there about their opinions on the farm bills. I was surprised to know that even the middle and upper class people there said that these laws are draconian in nature. They told me that according to these laws, any man can hoard unlimited quantity of grains.

Earlier, the governments in this country set a limit to the hoarding of grains, and any amount more than the specified limit was considered illegal. Until now, hoarding in this country was considered a crime, and any person found guilty of it was arrested because hoarding increased the price of the grains. But now, due to these laws brought in by the Centre, any person can hoard unlimited amount of grains and it is no longer considered a crime."

He said that these laws mean that any person, who has a lot of money, can hoard unlimited amount of grains with them. "This will lead to high inflation. People can hoard till the time the inflation rate doubles every year. For instance, the prices of wheat grains will double from Rs 20 this year to Rs 40 next year, and then Rs 80, and then Rs 160, and so on," he added.

"I want to appeal to the Central government to put an end to their ego. The governments are formed by the public, the public is not formed by the governments. The three farm laws should be immediately repealed and the farmers should be given guaranteed MSPs, and a new bill should be passed based on it. All the demands of the farmers should be accepted without any condition as soon as possible," the CM said.