Stop viewing protests as political conspiracy, Priyanka Gandhi tells Centre

LUCKNOW: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said that the government has failed to identify the agitation against the three farm laws as a real struggle and does not recognise the plight of the farmers’ protesting at Delhi’s borders.

The Congress leader is on a visit to Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur to meet the kin of a farmer who died during clashes which erupted on January 26 when a planned tractor rally organised by farmers’ unions in New Delhi turned violent leading to the death of a farmer and caused injuries to more than 390 policemen and 10 farmers.

The farmer, Navreet Singh, 27, died after his tractor overturned during the rally on Republic Day. The Congress leader also attended the final prayers organised for the deceased.

Priyanka Gandhi tells Centre

Priyanka said that the government is choosing to look at the agitation against the three laws as a political conspiracy. “The three farm laws are crimes (being committed) against the farmers and should be rolled back, but the bigger crime is calling martyrs ‘terrorists’ and viewing the farmers’ protests as a political conspiracy against (the government),” Priyanka was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

She also said that the Congress will stand by the farmers and voiced her support to the family’s demand for a judicial inquiry into the death of the farmer. She said, “Family members of the deceased want judicial inquiry. We are with the farmers and their families. The government is yet to identify this movement as a real struggle. There is no politics behind it. It is painful for our farmers.”

The Congress, Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and BJP’s ex-ally Shiromani Akali Dal along with other opposition parties have expressed their support for the farmers’ agitation.

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Farmers Protest:

The farmers have been protesting since November last year against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance, and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The farmers’ unions representatives came under criticism after the January 26 clashes but they claim that outsiders had infiltrated the movement in a bid to malign the agitation. They continue to claim that the laws will lower the incomes of farmers and pave the way for multinational corporations to earn profits off the agricultural sector.

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