New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday defended farm reforms, saying a section of the political class opposing the move was ‘politically dishonest’ as it had supported reforms when in power.
Promising to resolve any disagreements farm unions might have on the three agriculture reform laws, the PM, in an interview with a magazine, said: “If you look at those opposing pro-farmer reforms, you will see the real meaning of intellectual dishonesty and rajneetik dhokhadhadi (political deceit).” He said India shouldn’t be made to wait any longer for reforms and “for this to happen, tough decisions should be taken, if need be.”
Questioning the politics around agricultural reforms, the PM observed: “There is a particularly detestable trait in certain sections of political parties — intellectual dishonesty (rajneetik dhokhadhadi). There are parties which will make grand promises before elections, even mention these in their manifestos. But when the time comes to deliver on the promises, these parties make a U-turn and worse, spread malicious misinformation. The same people (Congress-led UPA) wrote letters to CMs to do the exact same thing that the NDA government has done.”
Prime Minister Modi reiterated his government’s commitment to empowering small farmers. “The government has been saying from the beginning it is ready to discuss points of disagreement. Many meetings have been held but no one till today has come up with a specific point of disagreement,” the PM said, a day after Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi urged him to scrap the farm laws.
He accused the Opposition of showing the same dishonesty “when it comes to Aadhaar, GST and even crucial matters such as arming our security forces.”
‘Miss genuine critics’
The PM said he looked forward to healthy criticism, but missed genuine critics. “When a person views anything with a preconceived mindset, he creates a perception accordingly,” he said, adding that the number of genuine critics was abysmally low.