-Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says Modi provides hunger, unemployment, and suicide
DM Monitoring
NEW DELHI: The ‘Delhi Chalo’ farmers’ protest at border points of New Delhi has entered the 78th day yesterday (Thursday). Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, are staging a sit-in protest along Delhi borders.
The protest started on November 26, 2020. The farmers are demanding a complete rollback of the new farm reform laws and a guarantee on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system being retained.
Multiple rounds of talks between the Centre and the farmers’ union leaders have ended in a stalemate. Protesting farmers fear that the new laws will dismantle the MSP system and corporatise farming. The Supreme Court had earlier ordered a stay on the implementation of these contentious laws, hoping it will end the protest.
The farm union leaders have also rejected Centre’s proposal to suspend implementation of the laws for the 18 months. On January 26, the protest turned violent when some farmers deviated from a pre-decided route for their Republic Day tractor rally and clashed with police. Some protesters scaled the ramparts of the Red Fort.
Several protestors and police personnel were injured in the ensuing clashes. The farmers’ unions also held a ‘chakka jam’ on February 6 where they blocked national and state highways to protest the internet ban in areas near their agitation sites and harassment allegedly meted out to them by authorities, among other issues. Samkyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of protesting farmer unions, has announced that ‘kisan mahapanchayats’ will be organised across the country in the coming days against the Centre’s three agriculture laws.
Punjab held its first-ever kisaan mahapanchayat in Ludhinana’s Jagraon on February 11. It was arranged in the line of those already held in Muzzaffarnagar, Kurukshetra, Jind, Saharanpur, Shamli, Dadri, and Bharatpur. The event was organised by protesting farmer leaders including Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM)’s Dr Darshan Pal.
Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul district threaten they would not allow Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut to shoot for ‘Dhakad’ if she does not apologise to farmers for her tweets.
Intent of the first farm law is to give one friend, the right to have all crops of India. Who will be at loss? ‘Thela walas’, small businessmen, and those working in the mandis. The intent of the second law is to help the second friend. He keeps 40% of India’s crops in his storage, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament and said on February 11: “Yesterday, while addressing the House, PM said that the Opposition is talking about the agitation but not about the content and intent of Farm Laws.
I thought I should make him happy today and speak on the content and intent of the laws.”
He added: “The PM says he has given options. Yes, you gave three options — hunger, unemployment, and suicide.”
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Smriti Irani attacked Rahul Gandhi for criticising the Centre’s farm laws and said on February 11:
“I was surprised that this person (Rahul Gandhi) spoke of farmers and levelled allegations on Govt. I was surprised because he never gets involved in the discussion of the system in the region from where he was an MP even though he expresses concerns about the mandi system in that region.”
