Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik urged the government to meet the demands of the protesting farmers. “If the demands of the farmers are not met, then this government won’t return to power,” he said while speaking to local reporters on the sidelines of an event in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district, reports The Indian Express.
The governor pointed out that BJP leaders can’t even enter several villages of election-bound Uttar Pradesh now. “I am from Meerut. In my area, no BJP leader can enter any village. In Meerut, in Muzzafarnagar, in Baghpat, they can’t enter,” he told reporters.
Asked if he would relinquish his post to stand with farmers, Malik said that he is standing with farmers and while there was no need to relinquish his post at present, he would do that too if needed.
Malik, a Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh, said that he has fought with several people over the issue of farmers’ protests. “For them, I have quarrelled with the Prime Minister, Home Minister, everyone. I have told everyone that you are doing wrong, don’t do this,” he said. “Here, if the government legally guarantees MSP, then this will be resolved. The farmers can leave the issue of the three bills because the Supreme Court has put it on hold. There is only one thing, you are not even doing that. Why… without MSP nothing will happen,” said Malik.
The Meghalaya governor added that he won’t give any message to the Prime Minister publicly but will convey his opinions personally. “Khaas taur se, Sikhon ke bare me ye log jante nahin hai…nihatte guruon ne puri Mughal samrat se ladai ladi hai. Toh unko tang nahin karna chahiye (Especially, they don’t know about Sikhs…Unarmed gurus fought with the Mughal emperor. So they should not be bothered),” said Malik.
He also emphasised that if the government asks him, he is willing to mediate between the Centre and the farmers. “There is one thing, which will resolve this. You guarantee MSP, I will convince farmers that the three laws are on hold, leave it now.” “They should have the guarantee of minimum support price. They will be ruined if it is not there. They won’t do any agreement less than that,” the governor pointed out.
Farmers have been protesting at the Delhi borders against the three central farm laws for over a year now.
Earlier this year, Malik had come out in support of farmers, saying that they cannot be insulted and urged the government to resolve the ongoing crisis.
Reacting to the recent spate of civilian killings by militants in Jammu and Kashmir, Malik has said that when he was the governor of the erstwhile state, “terrorists didn’t dare to enter within a radius of 50 kilometres of Srinagar.”
“Jab tha, tab kuch nahin ho raha tha, na patthar bazi ho rahi thi, nahi bharti ho rahi thi, na koi mar raha tha. Terrorist Srinagar ke pachas kilometre ke dayre me ghusne ki himmat nahi karte the. Ab to wo maar rahe hain sheher me khule aam (When I was there, there was no stone pelting, no (terrorist) recruitment and nobody was dying. Terrorist didn’t dare to enter within a radius of 50 kilometres of Srinagar. Now they are openly killing inside the city),” said Malik. He refused to comment on the issue further, but said the killings were ‘extremely painful and disturbing.’
Malik also spoke about the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. When asked if Union Minister Ajay Mishra should have resigned after the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which a convoy of SUVs ran over a group of protesting farmers killing four of them, he said, “This is definitely wrong. This (resignation) should have happened that very day. Anyways, that minister doesn’t deserve to be a minister.”
