Centre tried everything to crush farmers but had to bow to them, says CM Kejriwal

New Delhi: Welcoming Prime Minister Narender Modi's announcement on repealing the farm laws, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the Centre and its agencies had tried everything in their power to break the farmers' resolve but despite that, the agrarian agitators fought long and hard and have now won.

In his congratulatory message to the farmers, CM Kejriwal also made sure to condole the death of 700 farmers, who had to sacrifice their lives in the course of the movement against the laws — even though the PM, in his address, did not mention this — as pointed out by scores of farmers across the border protest site.

At an online briefing, Kejriwal said, "It is a golden day in the history of India. This date will be written in golden letters in the chronicles of Indian history like August 15 and January 26. The Centre had to finally bow down in front of the farmers' tireless struggle and withdraw all the black farm laws. It is not only a victory for our farmers, but democracy has also won a huge fight today."

He said the farmers have proved that in a democracy, governments will always have to listen to the people and only the will of the people will rule.

"Be it Punjab or Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal or Kerala, the whole country stood with the farmers. All Indians living in the country and abroad became one and together, they created history. Those who rose above the lines of religion and caste fought this battle against the three laws together on the roads and in the end, the Centre had to bow down before them. Today, all those people have won," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said.

He said in global history, there would hardly have been a movement bigger or longer than the one against the three farm laws with lakhs of people fighting in such a peaceful manner. Sharing the CM's happiness, the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday showed up at the Singhu border site with sweets to distribute among the protesters there.

"In the harsh sun, in the rain, in the cold, they did not back down. The whole system did its best to break the movement, all sorts of efforts were made by the government and its agencies, yet they could not break it. They were called terrorists, Khalistanis, anti-nationals. All kinds of attempts were made to break the spirit of the farmers by trapping them by all means. But it was also a fight for freedom for the farmers and today, like the freedom fighters, the farmers fought and won the fight," the chief minister said.