Ahead of the 10th round of talks between the protesting farmers and the Union government , former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the new farm laws were ‘designed to destroy’ agriculture and create monopolies by three-four capitalists.
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Releasing a booklet on the farm laws – Kheti ka khoon (murder of farming) – to highlight the plight of farmers, he said ‘repealing’ them was the only solution to break the deadlock.
The farm laws would destroy the mandi system; farmers won’t get the price they deserved and the middle class would be paying a price for food that they had never imagined.
Nadda’s tweets
Hitting back at BJP president J.P. Nadda, who posed a series of questions to him on Twitter before his press conference began, Mr. Gandhi said he was not scared of anyone, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and ‘they can’t touch him’.
“The biggest business in this country is agriculture… Now we are seeing the last bastion which was protected from monopoly being overrun by these new laws. They are designed to destroy Indian agriculture by destroying the mandi, the Essential Commodities Act and by making sure that no farmer can go to court to protect himself,” he stated.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi attacks PM on reports of Chinese village in Arunachal
“I support the protesting farmers 100 per cent and every single person in the country should support them as they are fighting for us,” he said.
Referring to Mr. Nadda’s tweets, in which the BJP chief accused the Congress of misleading farmers, he alleged that they were an “attempt at distraction”.
“Who is he? Is he my professor that I have to keep answering him? I will answer the country or the farmers if they pose questions,” he said.
Mr. Gandhi claimed that farmers knew that it was him who stood up in Bhatta Parsaul (Uttar Pradesh) and over the land acquisition bill and not the BJP chief.
“I am not afraid of anyone, neither of [Prime Minister] nor of anyone else. I am a clean person, they can’t touch me. They can shoot me, but can’t touch me. I am a patriot and I protect my country, and I will keep doing it,” he stated.
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“Even if I stand alone and everyone else is on the other side, it makes no difference as I will keep fighting. This is my duty and I am a bigger fanatic than them. Today you may not agree with me but when you become slaves, you may agree. That’s acceptable to me,” he observed.
Asked about the Supreme Court appointed expert committee, he refused to offer any comment but said, ‘everyone was seeing the reality of the Supreme Court”.
‘Unfolding of a tragedy’
Calling the enactment of the farm laws as the unfolding of a tragedy, he said it followed a pattern of creating monopolies in the infrastructure sector such as airports, power and telecom.
Also read:Farmers’ protest | Congress scuttling talks between government, farmers’ unions: BJP
Addressing the youth, he said that what was happening was not about the present but about the country’s future and the ability to be economically strong and give the youth jobs.
“This country is now owned by a small group of people, who I term crony capitalists, people who share a close relationship with the Prime Minister,” he added.
