Hitting out at the Opposition over their protest against the farm law, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that by burning their equipment, the opposition parties are disrespecting the farmers.
"They do not want farmers to sell their produce in the open markets. They want their vehicles to be seized like it used to happen earlier. By burning their equipment (tractor) they are disrespecting farmers today," he said.
Modi on Tuesday inaugurated six mega projects amounting to Rs 521 crores under the Namami Gange Mission in Uttarakhand. He also inaugurated several sewage treatment plants and their upgradations today located in Haridwar, Rishikesh, among other regions.
Speaking after the inauguration, he said, "Several reforms, related to farmers, labourers and 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. Today these people are misleading farmers over MSP. There will not only be MSP in the country but also the freedom for farmers to sell their produce anywhere. But some people are unable to tolerate this freedom. Their one more medium to earn black money is finished," PM Modi added.
Some parts of the country have been witnessing farmer protests against the new farm law in view of the alleged apprehension that the law would pave a way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big companies.
The Prime Minister also slammed the Opposition over defence acquisition by saying, "For years these people (Opposition) didn't do anything to empower our security forces. Air Force kept asking for Rafale but they never listened to them. When our govt signed a contract with France Govt for Rafale aircraft they started having a problem."
A Ganga Museum, to showcase the river rejuvenation activities and its biodiversity, at Chandi Ghat in Haridwar was also inaugurated by the Prime Minister today.
Governor Baby Rani Maurya, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, MoS Ratanlal Kataria, among others also participated in the event.
"In the past decades, huge initiatives were taken up to clean river Ganga but those initiatives had neither public participation nor farsightedness. As a result, the water of Ganga was never cleaned," Modi said.
"Ganga brings prosperity to almost half of the country's population. Therefore, non-stop flow and clean water in the river is very much needed. If the old steps were repeated then the condition would have stayed the same. But we went ahead with 'nayi soch, naya approach'. We did not restrict it to just cleaning up Ganga, but made it the country's largest river conservation project," he added.
According to him the four-point steps included firstly creating a network of sewage treatment plants that would stop the flow of dirty water in the river. The second was to make sewage treatment plants taking the needs of the coming 10-15 years into account.
"Further, 100 big cities and 5,000 villages located along the Ganga were made open-defecation free and fourthly, the tributaries of Ganga are also being cleaned up with full force," he said.
The Prime Minister said that currently under Namami Gange Mission, projects worth Rs 30,000 crores are either completed or are underway.
He said that in the upcoming "Kumbh Mela" at Haridwar people participating would be able to witness a cleaner Ganga with the government's efforts.
(With ANI inputs)