Slamming the Centre, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said farmers are pleading for justice because the Modi government has betrayed them again and again. He also stressed that farmers should not be deprived of their right to raise their voice.
Kharge asked PM Narendra Modi as to why farmers have to come to Delhi's doorstep again and again for justice. He said, ’Today, when you will be on a tour to Haryana and Rajasthan, I hope that you will definitely try to understand the struggle of the farmer who provides food to the nation. Farmers are pleading for justice because your government has betrayed them again and again’.
Targeting the central government, Kharge said, ‘The betrayal of not doubling farmers' income by 2022, the betrayal of not implementing Input Cost + 50% MSP as per the Swaminathan report, and the betrayal of forming a committee to give legal status to MSP but not acting on It’. He further said that there was neither adequate procurement nor was it being done at a fair price and on top of that, farmers are troubled by the acute shortage of fertilizers and DAP. Kharge said, ‘You laid a net of barbed wire on the path of the farmers, again turned the Delhi border into a cantonment, tried to stop their peaceful march with tear gas. Before this, you fired rubber bullets at them and showered lathis on them’.
Congress leader condemned Modi’s earlier remarks calling farmers ‘andolanjeevi’ (agitators) and ‘parjeevi’ (parasites), and for not observing two minutes of silence for the 750 farmers martyred during protests. He said that in this situation, no matter how many lies you and your Agriculture Minister tell, the farmers who provide food have understood that you are their biggest opponent. Kharge also added that do not take away the farmers' right to raise their voice, do not do injustice to them!
This comes a day after the Haryana Police and paramilitary forces stopped a group of 101 farmers who had resumed their foot march to Delhi from the Shambhu border. The police cited prohibitory orders and the lack of permission for the protest, blocking the farmers with a multilayer barricade.