Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday attacked the government over the India-US trade deal, saying opening Indian markets to American agricultural produce amounted to a “betrayal” of nearly 70 per cent of the population dependent on farming.
His remarks came after India and the United States agreed to a trade pact under which Washington will reduce reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister alleged that the BJP and its allies were “agents of foreign interests” even before Independence and continued to act in that manner today.
Targeting the ruling party, Yadav said BJP leaders must explain to the public how much “commission” they had earned by compromising the country’s economy.
He warned that such policies would harm farmers and also hit the lower middle class and middle class by encouraging profiteering in foodgrains and agricultural products, creating a new class of middlemen and pushing prices higher.
These steps would gradually reduce farmers' income, forcing them to sell their land to wealthy individuals and corporates, Yadav said.
"Capturing land is the ultimate objective of the BJP and its associates," he alleged. Referring to the proposed Seed Bill, Yadav described it as "fatal for Indian agriculture" and alleged that it was the product of an anti-farmer mindset of the BJP government.
He accused the ruling party of bringing land acquisition laws, humiliating people by forcing them to stand in fertiliser queues every year, and promoting corporate interests linked to seeds, pesticides, storage silos, crop insurance and agricultural trade. Yadav called for organised resistance against such policies, asserting that farmers already troubled by issues such as stray cattle would no longer tolerate the government's actions.
He alleged that the BJP had been, was and would remain anti-farmer, and said it was time to "remove BJP, save fields, farming and farmers."