Farmers Movement Archive

Not just for sake of opposing: Kharge wants to corner Centre on farm laws

Mallikarjun Kharge, the newly-elected Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said on Saturday he will not be deterred from addressing the issues which affect the common man and will press the government to address them. “We are not opposing the government just for the sake of opposition. We oppose the government's wrong policies affecting the common man,” Kharge was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.Kharge had said after his appointment as the Leader of Opposition that the Congress party will continue to focus on the ongoing farmers’ protest and will look forward to cornering the government over issues raised by the farmers’ unions representatives. “The farmers have been agitating against the new farm laws for the past few months and demanding that they be withdrawn as it abolishes the MSP and the Mandi system. We are all supporting their demand. The government has failed to satisfy the farmers, the major stakeholders while bringing in these laws and should withdraw them,” the septuagenarian leader from Karnataka said on February 20.He also said that the tractor rally against the three farm laws, which went violent on January 26, was a conspiracy planned by the government with the aim to dent the spirit of the protesting farmers’ unions representatives who have been protesting against the farm laws for almost three months at Delhi’s borders demanding their total repeal.On Saturday, Kharge also said the government was using terms like 'Khalistanis' and 'Pakistanis' with a motive to divide the protesting farmers’ unions. He also highlighted that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had asked him to highlight the issues of the poor. “We raise the issues (in Parliament) not to become famous. We take up the issues affecting the poor. Somebody should talk,” Kharge said.Kharge will lead the opposition in the Upper House following the retirement of another veteran Congressman Ghulam Nabi Azad. “The Chairman, Rajya Sabha, has accorded recognition to Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Indian National Congress Party in the Rajya Sabha, as the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha w.e.f February 16, 2021, in terms of Section 2 of the Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977 and rules made thereunder,” a statement released from the Parliament on Tuesday had said.(With inputs from PTI)

Hindustan Times

20-02-2021

India