Farmers Movement Archive

Adhir takes out tractor rally against farm laws

Kolkata: Congress’ Lok Sabha leader Adhir Chowdhury drove a tractor down the heart of the city on Friday afternoon to protest against the farm laws adopted by the Narendra Modi government. The unique rally that grabbed eyeballs was organized by West Bengal Pradesh Congress from Victoria Memorial to Gandhi Statue on Mayo Road. Chowdhury upheld farmers’ cause against the Centre’s attempt to open up the farming sector to big corporate groups, like it did in the area of communication. “You all have cellphones. Earlier, there were several service providers. Nowadays a particular service provider is grabbing the entire sector. This will happen to agriculture as well,” the Bengal Congress chief said. Chowdhury hit out at the Modi government, saying the farm laws would weaken the public distribution system. “The Centre is implementing recommendations of the Shanta Kumar Committee that calls for bringing down PDS coverage from 67% to 40%,” he said. Chowdhury also seized the opportunity to take a dig at Union home minister Amit Shah over eating lunch with a Dalit family. “Where was he during the Hathras incident in Uttar Pradesh? Why didn’t he pay a visit to the victim’s family?” he said. The Pradesh Congress rally comes as the party’s independent initiative ahead of Bengal assembly polls in which leaders are projecting Chowdhury as the face that can take on Modi and Mamata Banerjee at one go.

The Times of India

2020-11-07

Kolkata