Addressing her second ‘Kisan Panchayat’ in less than 7 days, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Monday lashed out at PM Narendra Modi and his ‘capitalist friends’ and reiterated that her party is standing solidly behind the farmers and their agitation.
“I am with you, Rahul Gandhi is with you. Each and every Congress worker is with you. I have faith in you that you will keep on fighting for your rights,” said Priyanka Gandhi at the rally held in UP’s Bijnor.
Elaborating how Modi and his ‘capitalist friends’ have captured the system, Priyanka said, “His (Modi) capitalist friends run the media in this country. The elections are also run with the help of the same capitalist friends. The whole country has been given away to these capitalist friends.”
In line with Rahul Gandhi’s “hum do, hamare do” swipe at Modi govt, Priyanka Gandhi alleged that the farm laws have not been brought in for the benefit of farmers, but that of the PM's ‘capitalist friends’. Addressing the Panchayat which saw a strong participation by women also, Priyanka said:
- The first farm law gives free hand to the corporates to buy and stock up as much agriculture products as they want which will eventually result in inflated prices
- The second law is designed to crush the existing APMC mandis — once private mandis take over the market
- The third law on contract farming will lead to the exploitation of farmers by the corporates
“Three lakh farmers, camping a few kilometres away from the PM’s residence, just want him to come and talk to them. But he does not have time for them,” said Priyanka, demanding that the government repeal the newly-enacted agriculture laws.
Raising the issue of farmers’ sugarcane dues in UP, Priyanka said it has now reached Rs 10,000 crore. “If we add up the dues of sugarcane farmers across India, a total of Rs 15,000 crore is outstanding,” said Priyanka, adding that the PM cannot pay the dues of the farmers, but can buy two airplanes, worth Rs 16,000 crore, to travel across the globe.
