Salient points of BJP President Shri Rajnath Singh's speech,
delivered at a farmers rally organised to mark
65th birth anniversary of Sahib Singh Varma

Even after sixty years of independence India is not included in the category of developed countries. Congress party never cared for the villages, farmers and the poor and kept them at the margins of the society. The majority of people in India live in villages not in the multi-storey buildings of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata or Chennai. Nearly 700 million people in the total population of 1100 million are dependant on agriculture for their livelihood.

The farmers form the largest chunk of producers, consumers and buyers in the country. The Congress party promised a great deal to the farmers but never fulfilled its promises. No wonder the credibility of political leaders is at stake. BJP has taken up the issues pertaining farmers as a challenge. We will deliver what we will promise. We will not make false promises to garner votes.

BJP has been demanding loan waiver for farmers for the past many months. Now the UPA Government has announced debt relief to farmers in a hurry. Commenting on this decision in a hurry is not required at this point of time. But if the UPA Government is sincere in its endeavour to provide relief to farmers the BJP would not hesitate in lending its support to the government.

The Congress has put the economic freedom of the farmers in jeopardy. The distressed farmers are forced to commit suicide. Poor and labourers are facing the ire of spiralling prices of essential commodities. Unemployment is increasing. It is the Congress party which should be blamed for all these ills as it has ruled the country for most of the years since independence.

I condemn the heavy-handed beahviour of Chinese government which used brute force to curb the Tibetan protestors peacefully protesting in and around Lhasa. There should be a peaceful resolution of the ongoing problem and the police atrocities against Buddhist monks should immediately be stopped.

The Government of India should use its diplomatic skills to register its concern and complaint against the ongoing violence in Tibet. But the UPA Government has preferred to remain silent on the issue and even went to extent of using force against Tibetan protestors who were peacefully protesting in New Delhi. BJP denounces this submissive attitude of the UPA Government.

These incidents clearly demonstrate that the UPA Government lacks the ability to deal with our neighbours and it continues to falter on key diplomatic issues.

Remembering former Union Minister, the late Sahib Singh Varma BJP President praised him as a leader of villages, poor and farmers. Shri Singh recalled an incident when Shri Varma met him for the first time after he became the BJP national President. He told the audience that Shri Varma expressed the desire to make villages, poor and farmers as the axis of politics." The large numbers of people present here are testifying that Shri Varma was a popular mass leader", he added.