Priyanka visits kin of deceased farmer
LUCKNOW: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday urged the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government to repeal the three new farm laws instead of calling the farmers protesting against the laws “terrorists”. “If there is any bigger wrong other than the three farm laws, which the government should take back but is not doing so, it is that martyrs are branded as terrorists and the farmers’ agitation is seen as a political conspiracy,” Priyanka Gandhi said. The Congress general secretary on Thursday met the family of Navreet Singh, who died after his tractor overturned during a tractor parade on January 26 in New Delhi, and attended a prayer ceremony for him at Dibdiba village in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district. “I have come here to tell this family that you are not alone. Every single countryman is with you, be it of any religion, and farmers of every corner of the country are with you and we are with you,” she said. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and Congress legislature party leader Aradhna Mishra accompanied Priyanka Gandhi on her visit to meet Navreet’s family. “Navreet was 25. My son is 20. You have young sons who went there to show their solidarity with farmers. He (Navreet) did not come back because of an incident. I want to tell Hardip Singh (Navreet’s grandfather) that we will not allow the loss of your grandson go waste. This agitation will continue till these black farm laws are withdrawn,” said Priyanka. Hitting out at the Congress leader, UP BJP vice president Vijay Patha, “The BJP government is doing a lot of work to double the income of farmers and bring about an improvement in the law and order situation. She should show large heartedness and speak about good efforts of government.” “By supporting the cause of farmers, the opposition wants to target the government. It’s opposition for the sake of opposition. Instead of siding with farmers, the Congress should point out the flaws in the farm laws,” said SK Dwivedi, former head of department political science, Lucknow University.