NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that government should not be under the misunderstanding that farmers will back off from their protest and the Opposition parties are with farmers in their demand for the repeal of three farm laws.
Gandhi, who was interacting with media persons along with leaders of NCP, CPI-M, DMK and CPI after giving a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind, said, “If farmers do not stand today, they will not be able to stand again”.
The former Congress president said the farmer will not compromise on their demands. He alleged that “farm bills were imposed” and it was “an insult” to the farmers of the country.
Asked about farmer unions rejecting proposals of the government for changes in the three laws, Gandhi said the government should not remain in any misunderstanding. “The farmer will not compromise. Why because they have understood that if they do so, then they will have no future in the country. And I am telling the farmers that if you do not stand today, they will not be able to stand again. You do not worry, we are with you. Nobody can push you back. You are India,” he said.
Gandhi said the farmer works for the country the entire day and the laws are “against farmers”. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the bills are in the interest of farmers. “If they are in interests of farmers, why are they protesting?
Why are they angry. The laws are aimed at handing out the country’s agriculture system to Prime Minister’s friends and the farmer has understood it,” he alleged.
He said nobody can face the power of farmer and the government should not be under an illusion. “The government should not think that the farmers will back down, will get scared. The farmer of the country will not be afraid. Till the time, the laws are repealed, they will not move (from their protest),”
He said the bills were passed without any discussion, without a conversation with the opposition parties and certainly without a discussion with the farmers of this country who have built this country. “So, the way the bills were imposed, we see it as an insult to the farmers of this country.
The Kisan has lost faith in the government. The Kisan does not believe that the government is acting in their interest and that is why lakhs of them are on the streets, non-violently, compassionately on the streets. They are struggling in cold weather with complete respect. So, we informed the President that it is absolutely critical that this bill are been taken back,” he said.
With ANI inputs