BENGALURU: Prof Nanjundaswamy, Gopal Gowda and K S Puttannaiah, who are no more, wanted the entire farmer community to get together and that is becoming a reality now, said activist Yogendra Yadav here on Saturday.
Taking part in an open conversation with farmer leaders at the Farmer Unity Forum in the city, he said, “Farmers have been protesting at the Sharjapur-Delhi border for the last 50 days in bitter cold. First, the government said only farmers from Punjab were protesting. Later, it said there were just farmers from Haryana and North India. A day will come when they will say Indian farmers and not American farmers are protesting.”
He said, “The Prime Minister said I will give a historic deal to farmers. Has any farmer organisation been approached before the deal was made? Even the BJP’s farmer wing -- Bharatiya Kissan Sangh -- says the PM did not have a dialogue. Farmers are saying, Modiji you gave us a deal that we haven’t sought. The Prime Minister says you have to take the gift. What sort of a compulsion is this?
The gift wrapping will be changed and trimmed a little, but the gift will be forced. It is not really a gift for farmers, but for someone else.” He said, “Farmers have been seeking the minimum support price, which is their right. When Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, Modi had written to him saying the government should pass a law on minimum support price. Now, Modi should stick to that demand.”