Farmers Movement Archive

‘PGV mum on killing of farmers in Bastar’

Lucknow: In response to a letter written by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to PM Narendra Modi, asking him not to share the stage with Union minister of state for home affairs Ajay Mishra Teni, UP government spokesperson and MSME minister Sidharth Nath Singh instead asked Congress what it had done for farmers in states ruled by it. Gandhi wrote the letter in context of a function organised in Lucknow which the PM was to address, a day after he announced withdrawal of three controversial farm laws on Friday, which Opposition parties have hailed as a victory for farmers. “Why is it that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra remains silent on the brutal killing of tribal farmers in broad daylight in Bastar, Chhattisgarh? Will she enlighten us about how many Congress leaders went to the site where the unarmed farmers were killed,” he asked. He added that she also needed to explain why there was a lathi charge on the farmers in Rajasthan. Asking how a “Corporate Congress” was suddenly worried about farmers, Singh said that for Priyanka, her husband Robert Vadra must be the most hard working farmer “who does the tedious task of cheating farmers by buying their land for pennies and making crores out of it”. “For Congress, the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ was merely a slogan used to emotionally fool the public. The PM’s decision to repeal the farm laws reveals his immense respect for the farmers. Only someone possessing a will to serve people selflessly could have done it. Those with vested interests will only know how to find something negative in everything,” he said. He also advised Gandhi to focus on the wellbeing of farmers in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Punjab because as far as the Lakhimpur incident was concerned, the government was doing everything possible in the matter.

The Times of India

2021-11-21

Lucknow