Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik on Sunday called upon farmers to “unite” and “vote for change” in the next Lok Sabha elections to be held in two years, saying they should stop agitating and seize power. . Mr Malik said he would travel across North India in the next six months after his term as governor ends and urged farmers to unite.
“The elections (Lok Sabha elections) are just two years away. If you vote together, people in power in Delhi will run away. It will be the farmers’ rule, and then you don’t need to ask for anything from anyone,” Mr Malik said while speaking at a function organized to honor him by Kandela and Majra Khap in Haryana’s Jind.
Malik, a vocal supporter of the peasant movement against the three controversial agricultural laws, “requested” the farmers to “stop sitting on the streets and agitating”, and instead unitedly seized power.
He said those in power thought farmers were “beggars” and did not give them the right price for their crops. “Stay united, form your government. People will beg you, you don’t need to beg anyone,” Mr Malik said.
He said that he had no urge for big posts and was ready to step down as governor in support of the farmers’ movement, but a minister in Delhi advised him to continue raising his voice for the farmers until he was instructed. Don’t leave your post till you leave. “My friends told me to keep quiet on the issue of farmers’ agitation. He said that if I keep quiet, I can become the next President or Vice President. But I told him that these posts are of no value to me,” Mr Malik said.
He said that a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the withdrawal of three agriculture laws, he had warned that the farmers’ agitation would have serious political ramifications. “Either he (the prime minister) had good sense or someone advised him, and he announced the withdrawal of the laws the next day,” Mr Malik said.
He, however, said that the withdrawal of agricultural laws was “incomplete” and the larger question of the true value of farmers’ produce hung. Shri Malik said that this is not a new question and remains unanswered since the time of a great farmer leader, Chaudhary Chhotu Ram.
Unlike on earlier occasions, Mr. Malik refrained from making any direct comments on Mr. Modi, blaming the media for creating controversy around it. He said that he had traveled all over western UP and ministers were not even allowed inside villages for campaigning.
Mr Malik said he had sent a recommendation to abrogate Article 370 and took the responsibility that there would be no violence in the region. “All the leaders were arrested and sent to jail. No one raised his voice,” he said.
Malik was earlier scheduled to attend a khap mahapanchayat in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri in January this year, but had skipped the event.