- Friday, December 27, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
FORMER Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday (26) rode a tractor to the parliament to express solidarity with the farmers over their protest against three agricultural laws that the Narendra Modi government has brought.
The senior leader, who was driving the three-wheeler wearing a half-sleeved shirt, trousers and sandals and a face mask, told ANI news agency, “I’ve brought farmers’ message to Parliament. They (Government) are suppressing voices of farmers and not letting a discussion take place in Parliament. They’ll have to repeal these black laws. The entire country knows these laws favour 2-3 big businessmen.”
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Gandhi said while the Modi government thinks the farmers are very happy and those protesting by sitting out are terrorists, the reality is that the farmers’ “rights are being snatched away”.
‘JAI KISAAN ‘.
Rahul Gandhi once again showed solidarity with the farmers.
He drives a tractor to Parliament to Protest against farm laws. #RahulGandhiWithFarmers#FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/EmjDNIVshm
— Madhu ✋ (@Vignesh_TMV) July 26, 2021
He also tweeted saying “tractors will run in Parliament” if the farmers are forced to sell their land.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that farmers are being used as a political tool by the opposition parties.
“Rahul Gandhi is playing politics. Farmers are being used as a political tool. The centre has said if there are issues with the laws it is ready to rework them. They are ready for talks,” said Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, a BJP member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament, and the president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Thousands of farmers have been staging protests at three points bordering Delhi since November seeking the farm laws to be repealed and a new law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
The controversial farm laws are a major reason over which the ongoing monsoon session of the parliament has been disrupted. Some parliamentarians from the opposition Congress refused to let the house function until the matter was resolved.
They protested outside the parliament. The Shiromani Akali Dal, a major party from the northern state of Punjab which pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance last September over the agriculture laws, has also sought a debate on the matter.
Indian’s agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the farm laws are beneficial and they can be discussed “point-wise” if farmers express the issues.
Several rounds of talks have happened between the government and farmers but they have failed to break the stalemate over the contentious laws.
