Ambikapur: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the Central government for using tear gas against protesting farmers and lodging them in jails for their just demand. He also promised to provide legal guarantees to Minimum Support Price (MSP) if the I.N.D.I.A. bloc comes to power.
Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the government came at the same time as farmers' attempts to breach barricades erected by the Haryana Police at two border points to prevent them from travelling to New Delhi. Police responded by firing tear gas shells. Notably, a law on MSP for crops and loan waivers are among the prominent demands raised by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha spearheading the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation.
Rahul Gandhi on farmers' protest
Addressing a public meeting as a part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Ambikapur, the headquarters of Chhattisgarh's Surguja district, the Congress leader said, "Today, farmers are heading towards Delhi but they are being stopped, tear gas shells are being used on them, and they are being lodged in jails. They are just demanding that they should get a better return for their hard work and farm produce."
He said the BJP government at the Centre announced Bharat Ratna for MS Swaminathan who dedicated his life to agriculture and farmers, but it is not ready to implement his suggestions. "Swaminathan ji has clearly said in his report that farmers should get the legal right to MSP. But the BJP government has not been doing this. If the INDIA alliance comes to power at the Centre, our government will provide legal guarantees to MSP for farmers," Gandhi said.
He said the INDIA alliance will honour all the recommendations in the Swaminathan report after forming a government. "This is our beginning. Our manifesto is being prepared. We are going to work for farmers and labourers," the Congress leader said.
Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of employing GST and demonetisation as tools to destroy small businesses in the nation. "Two types of injustice are taking place in the country. One is economic injustice and the other is social injustice. Unemployment is spreading due to economic injustice. Big billionaires are selling Chinese goods in India. If these products were made in India, local youth would have got jobs, but Narendra Modi ji destroyed small traders with demonetisation and GST," Gandhi alleged.
The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra arrived in Chhattisgarh from neighbouring Odisha on February 8. The Yatra has passed through Raigarh, Sakti, and Korba districts before embarking on the onward journey in Surguja district on Tuesday.
Farmers protest 2024
As farmers in large numbers marched towards the national capital on Tuesday, the police fired tear gas on the protestors at the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu Border. The police also deployed concrete slabs, iron nails, barricades, barbed wires, and police and paramilitary personnel at Kurukshetra in Haryana in view of the 'Delhi Chalo' march by the farmers.
The protesting farmers have presented a list of 12 demands to the central government. According to the protesting farmers, the centre promised them better crop prices after which they ended the 2021 protest. At the forefront of their demands is the enactment of a law guaranteeing a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops, a measure advocated by the Swaminathan Commission report.
In addition to MSP assurance, the farmers are calling for a comprehensive debt waiver programme and the establishment of a pension scheme for both farmers and farm labourers. Furthermore, they are vehemently opposing the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 and are urging for the reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013. This reinstatement would entail provisions ensuring farmers' consent and compensation set at four times the collector rate.
(With PTI inputs)
