Seeking to turn up the political heat on Narendra Modi government over the farmers' unrest with regard to the passage of contentious farm bills, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday held an interaction with farmers, seeking their views on the legislations and extending his support to their campaign.
In the online interaction with farmers from different states such as Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar and Delhi, Gandhi asked them the reason why they were afraid that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) would be done away with as a result of the bills that were passed in the recently concluded Monsoon Session of Parliament.
In response, the farmers said they were afraid that they would be powerless when it came to demanding MSP from corporate players. Pankaj Taniram Matere, a farmer from Maharashtra, said that the bills were neither beneficial to the common man nor to the farmers. “Only big companies such as the Ambanis and Adanis will benefit from it,” he said.
Rakesh Jakhar, a farmer from Jhajjar in Haryana, asked why the government was not providing a legal guarantee on payment of MSP. Ashok Butada, a farmer in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, described the farm bills as institutionalisation of 'West India Company'. He said the companies will engage in buying produce at low prices and will sell it at many times that in the market.
The farmers demanded that if foodgrains are bought below MSP, it should be considered a punishable offence.
Gandhi said to the farmers that the bills have to be opposed, not just for the sake of the farmers but to save the future of the country. “The voice of the farmer is in the youth, it is there in the armed forces, in the police. There is immense power in the voice of the farmer. It was on the dint of this power that India had gained independence. Once again, today, the farmer's voice will liberate India,” he said.
The Congress leader remarked that one thing has become clear after talking to farmers, that they do not have any trust in the Modi government.
“We will lend our voice to the concerns of the farmers and join forces with them. Today, the entire country is with the farmers in their opposition to the farm laws,” he said.
This was Gandhi's first major initiative on the issue of the passage of the farm bills, coinciding with the launch of a nationwide agitation by farmers against the controversial legislations. He was abroad, accompanying his mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi for her annual medical check-up and both of them missed the Monsoon Session, the highlight of which turned out to be the face-off between the government and the opposition over the farm bills.
While he regularly made statements on Twitter with regard to the farm bills, his critics said his absence from the Session, although it was for a pressing family commitment, was another instance of the party missing him sorely at a politically crucial occasion. The party, on its part, was at pains to stress that the initiatives taken by it against the bills were on the directions of Sonia and Rahul.