New Delhi: “Those opposing farm laws are insulting farmers,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today, a day after Punjab Youth Congress workers set a tractor on fire near India Gate in the heart of Delhi during protests against the controversial farm laws, which have triggered widespread agitations in several states.
“Several reforms, related to farmers, labourers & health, were brought during the recently concluded Parliament session. These reforms will strengthen labourers, youth, women, farmers of the nation. But the nation can see how some people are opposing it just for the sake of it,” PM Modi said while inaugurating development projects in Uttarakhand though video-conferencing.
“They are insulting the farmers by setting fire to the machines and equipment that is worshipped by them,” he said.
A tractor was set on fire near India Gate on Monday morning, a few hundred metres from the Rashtrapati Bhavan and parliament. The Punjab Youth Congress took responsibility for the burning of the tractor.
“We have to make noises and make the right kind of noises… We are not in the government. We can only fight on the streets. We are street fighters,” Brinder Dhillon, Punjab Youth Congress president, told NDTV. “This was the only way we could have made the deaf and dumb government hear,” he said, justifying the act.
The BJP accused the Congress of trying to “mislead” the farmers and said the opposition party has “shamed” the country with the “drama” aimed at “gaining publicity”.
Five people – all from Punjab – were arrested and the car in which they were travelling was seized.
