D K Aruna Censures TRS For Supporting Farmers

BJP national Vice President D K Aruna today strongly criticised the Opposition for crying foul on the Centre's new farm laws, and for supporting the ongoing farmers' protest against the same.

Talking to the press in Mahabubnagar, Aruna said, "The Opposition is politicising the farmers' protests, and misleading the protesters, for its own gain. No farmers are protesting - it is only middlemen and the Opposition leaders, as the farmers know that the Centre, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is committed to their welfare and development. The farmers are also aware that the new laws are aimed at protecting their interests."

The BJP leader also accused the Opposition parties in Telangana, including the TRS, of hindering the implementation of the farm Acts, which she claimed would not cause any losses to the country's farming community.

Targeting the TRS, she slammed the party for organising state-wide protests on December 8, following the call of the farmers of Haryana and Punjab to implement a Bharat Bandh.

Aruna claimed that only the TRS leaders and ministers, and some middlemen, had joined the protest while the farmers of the state did not participate in the bandh as they were not opposed to the laws to begin with.

She also questioned the TRS regime regarding its pro-farmer stance, and pointed out that it had itself failed to purchase the fine quality rice grown by the farmers in the state at an MSP of Rs 2,500 a quintal, which had caused huge losses to the cultivators.

"Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao first asked the farmers to cultivate fine rice, and now he is dragging his feet regarding the procurement of the produce. The farmers have had to incur large losses due to this. What right does the TRS then have to oppose the Centre's laws?" Aruna asked.

The BJP leader suggested that if the Opposition really cared for the farmers' welfare, it would give suggestions to improve the lot of the community instead of "misleading and provoking" them for narrow political gains.

As the farmers' protests in Delhi continue to choke the capital city, many BJP leaders have been appealing to the farmers to withdraw the protests, and have been hihglighting the Centre's "pro-farmer" leanings in order to convince them to do so.