New farm laws to benefit corporate houses: Rahul Gandhi
Nitish Sharma
Tribune News Service
Kurukshetra, October 6
Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said Modi was in power for the past six years but instead of doing anything for the poor, he had been destroying them.
Accompanied by senior Congress leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja, Deepender Hooda, Randeep Surjewala and HS Chattha, he addressed a gathering at the Pehowa grain market after his “Kheti Bachao Yatra” reached the state here on Tuesday evening.
He said: “The way demonetisation and GST have benefited a few corporates such as Ambani and Adani, the new farm laws will also benefit these people only. Modi says that by making these laws, he is giving freedomto the farmers then why farmers in Haryana, Punjab, UP and Rajasthan are holding protests, why there was no debate and discussion on it in Parliament.”
Rahul said his government would scrap the three farm laws within 10 days if voted to power and till then the Congress would continue to protest, raise farmers’ voice and collectively oppose these laws.
“Modi has clevery passed these laws against farmers and labourers during the Covid pandemic, believing that no one will hold protests and hit the roads fearing the virus. But he is wrong. The MSP, procurement and mandi system were introduced for the food security of this nation. Modi will break the MSP and mandi system, and then the Ambanis and Adanis will capture the entire system. They will not use labour but bring automation for farm sector operations, rendering lakhs of people, including farmers, traders and labourers, jobless,” he added.
Rahul said: “The land will be grabbed and big malls and flats will be constructed there. Farmers in Haryana, Punjab and the entire country have understood that Modi is paving the way for Ambani and Adani because farmers and labourers can’t do marketing for Modi but corporates can.”
Later, Rahul paid obeisance at Jyotisar and visited Thanesar grain market as well, before concluding his “Kheti Bachao Yatra”. At Thanesar grain market, Rahul said: “Chinese soldiers are inside our territory and the PM is misguiding the country. If no one has grabbed the land, how our soldiers got martyred? China knows that Modi has weaken the country, weakened India’s farmers, and increased joblessness. Modi is image conscious. The day the UPA comes to power, we will throw China out.”
Hooda said: “The farmers are not getting MSP today. We have only one demand that the government should add the provision of guarantee of MSP. If any trader procures crop below the MSP, it should be a punishable offence.”
Selja said: “Rahul has raised his voice against the wrong policies of the BJP and Modi. No other party and their leaders have guts to challenge Modi directly. We assure that we will not let the BJP implement farm laws in Haryana.”
Surjewala targeted Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his deputy Dushyant Chautala and accused them of attacking the lives of farmers and labourers.
