Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to kickstart a 3-day `Kheti Bachao Yatra’ with a vow to fight new Farm Laws. Rahul gave a ‘guarantee’ to the farmers that the day the Congress comes to power at the Centre, these three laws will be scrapped.
Addressing a public rally at Badni Kalan in Moga before starting off a tractor rally through districts Moga and Ludhiana, Rahul warned the farmers that the big corporates want to take over their land and money without giving anything in return.
Rahul said that he stood with the farmers in this fight for their survival and livelihood, which the Modi government was trying to destroy with these laws. “Together we will change these laws,” he told the farmers.
Questioning the need to push these laws urgently in the times of Covid, he quipped, “if the farmers are happy with these legislations, as the Government of India is claiming, then why are they agitating in Punjab and the rest of the country?”
The new laws, said Rahul, were aimed at eventually dismantling the MSP and FCI procurement system, and would break the backbone of the farmers, just as the British had done to seize control of India. The central government was also trying to break the farmer’s backbone he warned, vowing not to let this happen at any cost. “The Congress will stand with the farmers in their fight and will not move back an inch,” he said.
Pointing out that the farmers of Punjab and Haryana had given the nation its food security with the tried and tested system that stands on three pillars of MSP, Food Procurement and Mandis, Rahul said that Congress would not allow it to be destroyed.
Such a move would leave the farmers at the mercy of corporates, which will spell the death knell of the farming community, he added.
Rahul, who postponed his Punjab programme by a day to visit the family of the Hathras victim on Saturday, said India had been reduced to a nation where victims are facing criminal action while criminals are going scot-free. Earlier, the Chief Minister pledged not to stop the fight against the laws till they are amended to give a written Constitutional guarantee on MSP and continuation of FCI. The verbal assurances of the BJP-led government could not be trusted, he said. A `Kisan Mazdoor Ekta Flag’ was released by Rahul, Captain Amarinder and the other leaders on the occasion.
AICC general secretary incharge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat, AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal, PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar, Punjab Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, MP Mohd. Sadeeq, MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu, Congress MP from Haryana Deependra Hooda also shared the stage with Rahul and Captain Amarinder. Later, the Congress leaders carried out a tractor rally via Lopon (Moga) and Chakar, Lekha, Manoke (in Jagraon), culminating in Jattpura (Raikot).