Farmers Movement Archive

Expect social turbulence if BJP pushes through farm laws, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the country can witness some serious social turbulence if the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pushes through the implementation of three contentious farm laws which have provoked agitation from thousands of farmers across India.Gandhi made the remarks in his conversation with Professor Ashutosh Varshney of Brown University via video conference where the two discussed farm laws, report by Sweden-based institute Varieties of Democracy which downgraded India to "electoral autocracy" and other issues.Terming the legislations as "extremely destructive", Gandhi said, "I feel, BJP will not have the power to push the farm bills through and if they do, we are going to head into some serious social turbulence.""We agree that there is a need to improve the agricultural system. We believe that any improvement of the agricultural system should be done by negotiating with the stakeholders of that system such as farmers," he added.We think it is going to be extremely destructive. I feel, BJP will not have the power to push the farm bills through and if they do, we are going to head into some serious social turbulence: Shri @RahulGandhi#DemocracyAndDialogueWithRahul pic.twitter.com/WMhogsvAVtLaying out his three problems with the issue, Gandhi said, "Our first problem with the farm laws is that there is no conversation with the stakeholders. They have not been explained what is happening.""Second thing is, you have to empower the producer, make him efficient. You have to make his negotiation more effective. Here there is a full scale assault on the producer. So literally, the producer is now going to be negotiating with Mr Adani and Mr Ambani with nobody in between," Gandhi said in his video dialogue."The first law basically says no farmers markets. The second law says as much hoarding as you want and third law says you cannot go and contest it in court," Gandhi explained.The video was shared by Congress on Twitter.Commenting on decline in India's democracy, Gandhi on Tuesday said Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi used to win elections as well."Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi used to have elections. They used to win them. It wasn't like they weren't voting but there was no institutional framework to protect that vote," Rahul Gandhi said in online interaction with Brown University.Rahul Gandhi further said, "Bharatiya Janata Party MPs in Parliament tell me that they cannot have an open discussion. They say they are told what to say."The Indian government, however, had disproved the report by Freedom House and called it "misleading, incorrect and misplaced".On the farm laws too, the government has said that Congress and other opposition parties are "misleading" the farmers who have been protesting against the three laws for more than 100 days now. The Centre has said that these laws are historic and will bring about a much-needed change in the agriculture sector. The government has said that it is ready to put these laws under suspension and held multiple rounds of talks with the protesting farmers, but the impasse is continuing.

Hindustan Times

17-03-2021

India