Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the Centre on Monday, 22 February for not seeing the farmers’ pain and added that several international pop stars have also raised the issue of the farmers’ protest.
Speaking from his constituency on his two-day visit to Kerala, Gandhi with the aid of a Malayalam translator said:
“The entire world can see the difficulty faced by Indian farmers but the government in Delhi is unable to understand the pain of the farmers. We have pop stars who are commenting on the situation of the farmers, but the Indian government is not interested”.Rahul Gandhi
The MP from Wayanad said in his speech, “They (the government) are not going to take back these laws unless they are forced to. The reason is these three laws are designed to destroy the agricultural system in India and give the entire business to two or three friends of Narendra Modi”.
For months, lakhs of farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders against the three contentious farm laws passed by the Centre in September 2020.
Farm Laws Are Direct Attack On Essential Commodities Act
Rahul Gandhi held a public meeting in his constituency in Muttil, Wayanad in Kerala after leading a tractor rally in support of the farmers’ protest. This comes ahead of the Kerala elections.
Gandhi asserted that agriculture belongs to India (Bharat Mata) and yet the laws allow for two-three people to control the entire sector. “The idea is that farmers should now sell their products directly to these big businesses. They want to destroy the entire agricultural chain which protects 40% of our country and gives food to all the people.”, Gandhi added, according to The Indian Express.
The Congress party will oppose the farm laws which are “a direct attack on the Essential Commodities Act”, said Gandhi, concluding that the Congress will call for a repeal and not allow India’s business to be controlled by few of Modi’s friends.
Earlier In The Day
Earlier in the day, Gandhi tweeted against the rising fuel prices under the Modi government by saying, “Petrol is at Rs 100 a litre. The Modi government is doing the great work of emptying your pockets and filling the pockets of its friends”.
On Monday, Rahul Gandhi also met with survivors of last year’s Kozhikode Air India flight crash which happened in August in Kalpetta, Kerala, killing 18 people including two pilots. The flight was carrying 190 passengers, including 10 infants, and the plane skid while landing at Karipur airport, reported NDTV.
(With inputs from The Indian Express and NDTV)
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