Rahul attacks Centre on farm laws, Nadda hits back
NEW DELHI: The Centre’s new farm laws are designed to “destroy” the agriculture sector, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Tuesday and asserted that the only solution to the farmers’ issue is to repeal the legislations.
At a press conference, Gandhi also released a booklet highlighting the “plight” of farmers in the wake of the Centre’s three farm laws. He alleged that the laws will put the entire agriculture sector in the hands of “three to four crony capitalists”.
The Centre’s new farm laws are “designed to destroy” the agriculture sector, the former Congress chief said. “I support the protesting farmers 100 per cent and every single person in the country should support them as they are fighting for us,” he added.
There is just one solution that these three laws will have to repealed, Gandhi said when asked about the impasse in talks between the government and the protesting farmers.
Hitting back at BJP president J P Nadda for his tweets earlier in the day criticising him, the Congress leader said it was an “attempted distraction”. The farmers know that it was Rahul Gandhi who stood up in Bhatta Parsaul and over the land acquisition issue, not BJP leader Nadda, he said.
“I am not afraid of anyone, neither of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi nor of anyone else. I am a clean person, they can’t touch me. They can shoot me, but can’t touch me. I am a patriot and I protect my country, and I will keep doing it,” he said.
However, responding to the allegations later in the day, Nadda asked why did the Congress-led UPA government “stall” the Swaminathan Commission report for years and did not increase the minimum support price (MSP).
“Why did farmers remain poor for decades under Congress governments? Does he feel sympathy for farmers only in opposition?” he asked.
The BJP chief also alleged that Gandhi has been spreading lies that all Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) mandis will be closed down and asked him that wasn’t action against the APMC Act a part of the Congress manifesto.
Would that not have closed down mandis, he questioned the Congress leader.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Haryana and Punjab, have been protesting at several border points of Delhi since November 28 last year, demanding a repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee to the MSP system for their crops. Enacted in September last year, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.