Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday accused the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi of depriving farmers of benefits under central schemes and urged Chief Minister Atishi to put aside “political competition” for their benefit.

In a letter to Atishi, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader claimed that the government in the national capital was indifferent towards farmers.

Noting that the Aam Aadmi Party had been in power in Delhi for 10 years, Chouhan claimed that its government had not implemented the “farmer-friendly schemes” introduced by the Centre in Delhi.

“Due to non-implementation of the Centre’s agricultural schemes in Delhi, farmer brothers and sisters have not been able to avail the benefits of many schemes, including the establishment of nurseries and tissue culture, supply of planting material, construction of infrastructure for post-harvest management, new orchards, poly houses and cold chain subsidy,” he said.

Chouhan said that “political competition should not become an obstacle to farmers’ welfare”, adding that their welfare was the duty of all governments. “The AAP [Aam Aadmi Party] government should rise above party politics and take decisions in the interest of farmers,” the letter added.

The BJP leader also criticised former Chief Minsiter Arvind Kejriwal for making huge announcements before elections to gain political advantage. “As soon as Kejriwal came to power, instead of taking public welfare decisions, he cried about his own problems,” the letter added.

The letter comes amid protests by farmer groups to press the Centre to accept their demand for legally guaranteed minimum support prices. The minimum support price is the minimum cost at which the government procures agricultural commodities from farmers.

Along with the legal guarantee, the protestors have also been demanding the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Commission’s wider recommendations for farming in India, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, a farm debt waiver and the reinstatement of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act.

The farmers have alleged that the Centre has not taken steps to address their demands, claiming that no talks have been held since February.

Chouhan’s letter to Atishi also comes ahead of the Assembly elections in Delhi, which are expected to take place in or before February. The Election Commission has not announced the schedule yet.

‘Like Dawood giving sermon on non-violence’: Atishi on letter

In response to Chouhan’s letter, Atishi on Thursday claimed that the condition of farmers had never been as bad as it was during the BJP’s reign at the Centre, PTI reported.

“The BJP talking about farmers is like [fugitive gangster] Dawood [Ibrahim] giving a sermon on non-violence,” she said. “The condition of farmers has never been as bad as it was during the time of the BJP”.

The chief minister also said that the BJP should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold talks with the farmers who have been on a hunger strike to press for their demands instead of giving sermons. “Stop doing politics with farmers,” she added.

Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also said that the Centre was not holding discussions with the farmers even though they had been protesting for many days.

“Talk to them,” he said in a post on social media platform X. “They are the farmers of our own country. Why is the BJP so arrogant that it does not even talk to anyone?”

He also claimed that the Centre wanted to reinstate the three farm laws that had been scrapped in 2020 “through the back door”.

“For the information of farmers across the country, let me tell you that the three black laws which were withdrawn by the Centre three years ago due to the farmers’ agitation, the Central government is preparing to implement them again through the back door by calling them ‘policies,’” he claimed.

Kejriwal added: “The Centre has sent a copy of this policy to all the states to know their views.”

In 2020, the Centre introduced three new farm laws claiming they would enhance farmers’ access to markets and boost production through private investment.

The laws were repealed in November 2021 after more than a year of protests by farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh who held sit-in agitations at Delhi’s borders. They claimed the laws would make them vulnerable to corporate exploitation and dismantle the minimum support price regime.

Modi, while announcing that the laws would be repealed, had sought forgiveness from the people. He had said that the Centre had introduced the laws with pure intentions, but could not explain their importance to some farmers.