Dharamshala: Senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar has said that it was unfortunate that even after long talks by ministers and all kinds of assurances of the Prime Minister, the farmers’ agitation is getting more intensified. The next phase of the movement has reached a critical juncture. He especially urged the government and farmer leaders to be very careful.
He said that some wrong elements have joined the movement and some suspected NGOs are indirectly funding and fueling the unrest by spending crores of rupees.
The veteran leader cautioned, “now the leadership of the movement is not in the hands of the farmers working in the field. The movement is mainly run by leaders of Punjab. The grain production in Punjab is very high and the Food Corporation buys so much food that tax and commission make up for more than Rs 5,000 crore annually. With the new law, farmers will be able to sell their produce elsewhere. The income of the commission will be reduced.”
He claimed that this was the reason why Punjab’s middlemen were giving crores of rupees, blankets, quilts and food grains to the people sitting on the dharna.
Shanta Kumar claimed that an international NGO was giving goods worth crores of rupees by putting up a big pandal. The large canopy has a photo of a terrorist leader convicted for hijacking an airplane at the time of terrorism, who has not been caught to date. He is still staying abroad and doing anti-national activities. If such news is true then the country needs to be careful.
Shanta Kumar said that a few days ago there were 100 days of dharna in Shaheen Bagh. Then came a delicate phase. Riots were committed and 50 innocent people were killed. The farmer movement is also slowly taking the form of the same movement.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
