Kolkata: Urging all Opposition Chief Ministers to unite and write a uniform letter to the Centre demanding withdrawal of the contentious farm laws, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she only wants "Modiji" to get ousted from the Centre to bring an end to "political disasters" that the country is facing for the past seven years.
She also proposed a union of state governments, in a federal set-up, which would unanimously take on the Centre if any state is harassed.
Extending full support to farmers' agitation against the three farm laws till they are withdrawn, Banerjee gave a nod to the request of the farmers' leaders led by Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh of the Bharatiya Kisan Union to hold a virtual conference among all Opposition leaders at the earliest and to join under a common platform once the Covid situation improves.
Banerjee, who had been supporting the farmers' agitation at the Singhu border for the past seven months since its inception and also passed a resolution at the state Assembly rejecting the laws, held an hour-long meeting with the three-member delegation, including Tikait and Singh at Nabanna. Former External Affairs minister Yashwant Sinha, who is at present the national vice-president of the Trinamool Congress, was also present.
Congratulating Banerjee for her landslide victory over "monopolists and communal forces", Tikait stated that she has saved Bengal and now the time has come to save the country, which is only possible by ousting BJP. Banerjee further said: "Forget my name. We will work collectively as a family. I do not want to be anything. I just want one thing — to oust Modiji from Delhi."
Requesting all Opposition political parties and even old and new BJP workers to get united to save the country's democracy, Banerjee opined that there should be "union of state governments in the federal structure so that others can fight against the Centre if there is any sort of harassment or injustice towards any particular state". She also mentioned that the farmers' movement is not only an issue for a few states like Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, "but it is for the whole country."
The Bharatiya Kisan Union will also go for "no vote to BJP movement" in the six states, including Uttar Pradesh that is going to the polls next year. They did the same in Bengal ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections.
Holding the Modi government responsible for the country's poor economic condition, Banerjee said people are becoming victims of natural disaster on one hand and the Centre's political disaster on the other.
"We will also take steps to ensure that a uniform letter demanding scrapping of the farm laws goes to the Centre from all Opposition Chief Ministers," Banerjee said mocking the BJP government for not holding talks with the farmers since January.
"The agitating farmers are also residents of India. Why doesn't the Centre interact with them? The laws were forcefully imposed when the farmers did not support the same," she said adding that her government had introduced a law that stopped forceful acquisition of farmlands in Bengal that is a model for the entire country.
Singh also stated that the Centre had introduced the laws to help monopolists have an upper hand in controlling the country's Rs 1,400 lakh crore agri-market depriving both farmers and consumers. He added that agriculture is not only a profession in India but a way of life. "Earlier, India always opposed the developed countries' proposal of turning the country's traditional agricultural structure to a corporate one but now the Central government has only changed its stand."
Meanwhile, with the talks between the Centre and the agitating farmer unions stalled since January, Union Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday expressed readiness to resume the dialogue to resolve their objections to the three new agri laws, but the unions remained adamant on their demands for a repeal of the legislations and a legal guarantee on the MSP.
Amid the deadlock, while Banerjee and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal questioned why the Central government was not holding talks with farmers, the Congress batted for accepting the demands of protesters and said Tomar should step down as Agriculture minister.
The government has held 11 rounds of talks, the last being on January 22, with the unions to end the farmers' protest over the laws enacted in September.
"Whenever farmers want discussions, the government of India will be ready for discussion. But we have repeatedly asked them to tell the objections in the provisions with logic. We will listen and find a solution," Tomar said on Wednesday at a Cabinet briefing.
But the farmer unions claimed the government's stand was "unjustifiable and unreasonable".
"Protesting farmers repeat and reiterate once again that the government's attitude is unjustifiable and unreasonable, and is resting on ego and optics-games.
"Farmers demand a full repeal of the three central laws and a new legislation to guarantee Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all farmers," said a statement by Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of agitating farmer unions.
The Congress renewed its attack, with its chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala saying the protesting farmers are not begging but are seeking their rights and the government should shed its stubbornness and agree to their demands.
"Farmers have died while defending their farms and the country. And yet the farmers continue to be fearless and true," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtag '#500DeathsAtFarmersProtest'.
"We demand the resignation and the removal of the Agriculture minister. Somebody so egoistic and somebody so oblivious to the plight of Indian farmers has no business being a part of the Indian government," party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal asked the Union Agriculture minister to hold fresh talks with the agitating farmers to understand why they wanted the three farm laws to be repealed.
Badal, whose party had quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on the farm laws issue, said it was unfortunate that the Central government had "still not realised the ills of the legislation".