‘Dumpy’ booked on complaint by Shazia
Addressing ‘kisan mahapanchayat’, also slams PM over fuel price hike
New Delhi: A case has been registered against former BSP MP Akbar Ahmad “Dumpy” on a complaint by Delhi BJP vice-president Shazia Ilmi accusing him of misbehaving with her at a private party, police said on Saturday. Ahmad could not be reached for his comments on the issue.
New Delhi, Feb. 20: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will host protesting farmer leaders at a lunch at the Vidhan Sabha here Sunday afternoon where he will discuss with them the three contentious Central agricultural laws and other related issues, government sources said Saturday.
However, the government as well as AAP leaders were tight-lipped about the names of the union leaders invited for the meeting.
Farmer leader Darshan Pal said they had not received any invitation from the Delhi government till Saturday evening.
A senior Aam Aadmi Party leader said, “Discussions will be held at the meeting on various concerns of farmers over the agri laws and also the various aspects of the laws and its impact.”
Thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi border under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) for nearly three months now against the three agricultural laws enacted by the Centre in September last year.
Earlier this month, a delegation of SKM leaders had met Mr Kejriwal, urging him for a judicial enquiry into the alleged “conspiracy” against the protesting farmers.
Mr Kejriwal had said his government will help trace
the farmers who have been missing since the violence on January 26 during a tractor parade by the protesting farmers, and asserted that if needed, he will approach the Lieutenant Governor and the Centre in this regard.
Mr Kejriwal had also visited one of the protest sites at Singhu border in December and challenged the Centre to have an open debate with them in the three laws.
The AAP government has extended full support to the protesting farmers.
Mr Kejriwal in a gesture
of his party’s support had torn the copies of farm laws in Delhi Assembly in December last year.
Mr Farmers mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are camping at the border points of Delhi including at Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri, and have been demanding the Centre scrap the farm laws and ensure legal guarantee for MSP purchase of crops.
The stalemate over the issue continues despite 11 rounds of talks between farmer leaders and the Central government.
Lucknow, Feb. 20: Likening Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the character of an arrogant king, ahankari raja, from stories of yore, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said he is unable to understand that the “jawan” who has kept the country safe is also the son of a farmer.
Addressing a “kisan mahapanchayat” attended by thousands of people in Muzaffarnagar, the Congress leader attacked the prime minister on a range of issues, including the price of diesel, and alleged that he did not listen to farmers demanding a rollback of the agri laws because his politics were aimed only at himself and his billionaire friends.
She said the arrogant king from old stories would confine himself to his palace as his rule
expanded. “People started feeling afraid of telling the truth in front of him they would be grovelling. It seems our prime minister has also become an arrogant king of that type.”
“He is unable to understand that the jawan who has kept this country safe is a son of a farmer,” she
told the gathering. Launching a scathing attack against the prime minister, Priyanka Gandhi said government “mandis” and the MSP system would come to an end with the new farm laws.
“Your rights will also end. The way in which he has sold the entire country to his two-three friends, in the same way he wants to sell you, your land, and earnings to his billionaire friends,” she alleged.
In 2018, Priyanka Gandhi said the cost of diesel was `60 and today it is `80 somewhere and `90 elsewhere.
“The electricity bill has increased, the price of the gas cylinder keeps on increasing, but you are not getting the price for your sugarcane. It is at the same place,” she said.
“The BJP government earned `3.5 lakh crore by imposing tax on diesel last year. I want to ask where the money has gone. Why has the person who works day and night for the country, and irrigates it with his blood and sweat not got this money?” she asked.
The Congress leader said there was nobody to listen to the farmer who is being harassed.