Massachusetts: Responding to a question in the Harvard Kennedy School about the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman said the incident is ‘absolutely condemnable’.
She also said that such issues are happening in other parts of India as well and those should be raised as well, ” when they happen and not when it suits others” because there is a BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.
Sitharaman is on an official trip to US, when she was asked why there is no word on this from the Prime Minister, senior ministers, and why there is a “defensive reaction” when somebody asks questions about such things.
“No, absolutely not… It’s nice of you to have picked up that one incident which is absolutely condemnable, every one of us says that. Equally, there are instances happening elsewhere, is my concern.”
She said that she would speak for India, “it’s not being defensive about my party or my Prime Minister. It’s being defensive about India. I will talk for India, I will talk for justice for the poor. I will not be mocked at. And if it is mocking, I will be defensive to stand up and say ‘Sorry, let’s talk on facts”. That’s my answer for you,” she said.
“India has issues of such nature happening in many different parts of the country equally. I would like you, and many others, including Dr. Amartya Sen, who all know India, to raise it every time when it happens, not just raise it when it suits us because it’s a state where BJP is in power, one of my cabinet colleague’s son is probably in trouble, and also assume that it’s actually them who did it and not anybody else. Due course of justice will also have a complete inquiry process to establish it,” she added.
Further talking about the farms’ law she said that the government is willing to have talks with the farmers, “We are willing to talk about it, tell us that one particular aspect in any one of the three laws. To date, we have not had even one particular aspect which is being questioned. And therefore, the protesters are not sure on what score they are protesting, what is it that they are objecting to.
“Then there’s this issue about the minimum support price to be given to farmers,” she said, adding that the MSP is announced well in time and the farmers can decide whether they want to grow a crop or not and they can otherwise choose to grow something else.
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