Farmers Movement Archive

'Three laws brought to scrap mandis & MSP, will scrap them after coming to power,' says Priyanka

Saharanpur: Kick-starting her party’s farmer outreach programme in western UP, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday afternoon latched on to the ongoing protests against the three agriculture laws to attack the BJP-led central government.Speaking at ‘kisan panchayat’ in Chilkhana area of Saharanpur, where at least 8,000 people had gathered despite prohibitory orders invoked by the administration a day earlier, Vadra said, “Everyone has seen the prime minister’s 56 inch chest. Inside his 56 inch chest, he has a small heart which only beats for his billionaire friends.”She promised to repeal the laws if Congress comes to power.“When the Congress comes to power again, we will immediately repeal these farm laws. We will also ensure MSPs for all farmers,” Vadra assured farmers.She said, “In 1955, Jawaharlal Nehru had come up with a law to stop hoarding. That law has now been changed. The new law is aimed at helping trillionaires. What price you will get for produce, how and when will you sell, everything will be decided by them (trillionaires).”“These three laws are designed to scrap government mandis and the MSP. It will encourage hoarding. This means farmers’ voices will be stifled, and trillionaires' voices will be listened,” Vadra claimed.The Congress leader also slammed the government over the sugarcane dues.“The Prime Minister had promised that his government will clear pending cane dues of Rs 15,000-crore with interest in 15 days. Instead, he purchased two airplanes for Rs 16,000-crore to roam around the world,” Vadra claimed.Earlier, the Congress leader, dressed in black, landed at Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport and reached Behat area of Saharanpur via road to offer prayers at Shakumabri Mata temple and then at a mazaar.From there she reached the Chilkana to address the rally. She was flanked by Congress’ UP president Ajay Lallu, and other senior leaders including Rajiv Shukla and Pramod Krishnam.

The Times of India

2021-02-11

Meerut