V.K. Singh, former General and Chief Army Staff, and presently an MP from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, said that the farmers’ movement against the three ‘black’ laws was unfounded and a result of “blindly following” farmer unions, a day after the announcement by the Prime Minister that the contentious laws would be repealed in this Winter Session of Parliament.
While PM Narendra Modi had struck an apologetic and conciliatory tone, saying that the repeal was after his government’s “failure” to properly communicate with “our farmer brothers”, VK Singh took a harder stance and said that the farmers actually did not know what was “black” about the laws except the ink with which they were written.
He alleged, therefore, that the movement was based on false rhetoric. He further said that the “small farmer” had been ignored.
"Sometimes we understand things well but then we blindly follow the other person. I asked a farmer leader what is 'kaala' or black about these laws that you call 'kaala kanoon'. I said except the ink what else is black in these laws? He said, 'I agree but it's still black'. What is the cure for this? There is no cure. There is a fight for supremacy among farmer organisations. For some reason they are not thinking about the benefit of the small farmer. That is why the PM has taken the laws back”
His comments are a departure from the party line set by the Prime Minister himself when he said that “Guru Parb is not the day for blaming anyone” yesterday when the farming laws were promised to be repealed in his address to the nation.
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