Farmers Movement Archive

Rahul drives over farm laws with his tractor rally

LUDHIANA: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who kickstarted his anti-farm Bills campaign in Punjab on Sunday, addressed public gatherings at three different places on the first day. He started from Badhni Kalan in Moga, then reached Chakar village and in the end addressed a gathering at Jattpura (the last two in Ludhiana district). He attacked demonetisation and GST and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of playing in the hands of corporates, Adani and Ambani. Rahul, who was accompanied by Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, travelled from Badhni Kalan to Chakar on a tractor, which was fitted with special seats and driven by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Jakhar. As Chakar was not in the itinerary, he reached his final destination Jattpura late and apologised to the gathering. At Chakar, where he addressed the people from the trolley, he was gifted a model of a tractor-trolly and mitti (soil) of Punjab by Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu. Bittu urged Rahul to fight for the mitti of Punjab. At Jattpura, Rahul said it was Ambani and Adani who were running the government. “Rojgar chote business wale dete hai, middle size business wale dete hain, bhojan kisan aur mazdoor dete hai, lekin Hindustan ki sarkar poore ka poora fayda Hindustan ke 10-15 sabse bade udyogpatiyo ko deti hai. Aaj kal to sirf do hai, Adani aur Ambani. Narendra Modi ki wo madad karte hain, TV pe unka chehra dikhate hai, aur Modi ji unke liye rasta saaf karte hai. (Small and middle size businessmen give jobs, farmers and workers give food, but the government of India gives benefits to only to 10-15 big businessmen. But nowadays there are only two, Adani and Ambani. They help Narendra Modi, they show his face on TV and he paves the way for them.” Calling farmers of Punjab the backbone of the country, Rahul said that Modi was trying to break the backbone to benefit two to three persons. “But the Congress will not let this happen at any cost. Be it MSP, Food Security Bill or MNREGA, all these laws were made by the Congress for the protection of the farmers and we will not let anyone destroy them. Modi says these Bills will benefit farmers, then why Punjab peasants have closed the roads? Why there was no debate in Parliament? Why were we gagged? When the Congress government comes to power, we will tear these Bills and throw them in the dustbin.” Rahul also said demonetisation and GST were brought to benefit the corporates. Earlier, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh also addressed the gathering and said his government was with the farmers and would take whatever steps were needed against the anti-farmer laws and expose the Akalis’ double standards. The CM said people of the state would take care of these “gaddars”, but the real fight was with the BJP-led Central government, which was out to destroy the farmers with their draconian laws. “We will handle the Akalis here, but I urge Rahul to fight the Central government to scrap the new laws,” he said. ‘If mandi system is abolished, there will be no roads’ During his address, Rahul Gandhi claimed that if the mandi system was abolished in India, then no roads would be left anywhere. He said, “Today we rode the tractor on the roads which farmers use to go to mandis to sell their produce. Who has made these roads? Have Adani or Ambani made these? No, these roads were made from the tax from the mandis. But if the mandis are closed, then there will be no roads. If there are no roads, how will farmers sell their produce? Will they go by air to sell it?”

The Times of India

2020-10-05

Ludhiana