Farmers Movement Archive

In UP, Priyanka Gandhi attends prayer meet for farmer who died in tractor rally

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday met family members of the Uttar Pradesh farmer who lost his life during the protest in New Delhi on Republic Day. The Congress leader attended ‘ardas (prayer)’ ceremony of Sikh youth Navreet Singh at Dibdiba village in Rampur, about 325 km north west of Lucknow.“Navreet was 25. My son is 20. You have young sons who went there to show their solidarity with farmers. He (Navreet) did not come back because of an incident. I want to tell Sardar Hardip Singh that we will not allow the loss of your grandson go waste. This agitation will continue till these black farm laws are withdrawn,” she said.Navreet Singh died after his tractor overturned during the farmers' tractor parade on January 26 in New Delhi, said police, when a section of farmers veered off agreed routes and chaos ensued.“We cannot tolerate such an injustice. It’s true. This is not a political agitation. This is an agitation of truth. This is an agitation of every Indian… Whichever religion he belongs to, every farmer is with you,” the Congress leader said.She called the BJP government ‘unjust’ to farmers and said her party would not tolerate such injustice. The Congress leader said the agitation of farmers would continue till the three farm laws were withdrawn.“This government does not want to withdraw the three farm laws. These laws have to be withdrawn. This is great injustice being done to farmers. But the greater injustice is being done to them by calling them terrorists and seeing a conspiracy in their agitation,” she said.UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhna Mishra accompanied Priyanka to the village to meet family members.UP BJP vice president Vijay Pathak said the state government was doing a lot of work to double the income of farmers and bring about an improvement in the law and order situation.“By supporting the cause of farmers, the opposition wants to target the government. It’s opposition for the sake of opposition. Instead of siding with farmers, the Congress should point out the flaws in the farm laws,” said SK Dwivedi, former head of department political science, Lucknow University.Earlier, a large crowd of party men followed Priyanka’s cavalcade as she moved towards the village. Two vehicles in Priyanka’s convoy collided on a highway in Hapur. No one was hurt in the incident but some vehicles were damaged.Farmers have been camping on three Delhi border points protesting against the three farm laws enacted in September and have been demanding assurance on minimum support price for the crops. The Centre has maintained that the laws will benefit farmers and will also allow them to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

Hindustan Times

04-02-2021

India