The Congress on Tuesday said the detention of several farmers’ leaders in Haryana ahead of the protest march to Delhi against the agriculture laws was condemnable and an attempt to suppress their voice.
Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, after a meeting of the legislature party here, said the treatment meted out to the farmers was wrong as every citizen has the right to raise their demands in a peaceful manner and agitate against policies that would harm them. “The legitimate demands of the farmers cannot be suppressed. Arresting leaders from their homes at night cannot be justified and the government should release them at the earliest,” he said.
Farmers in Amritsar continue to refuse to let passenger trains ply
Supporting the demand of the farmers, Mr. Hooda said without the guarantee of the Minimum Support Price, the new laws were not in the interest of the farmers. “The Congress will come up with a proposal to amend the APMC Act [Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act] in the next Assembly session.”
He said the BJP-JJP government’s policies on farmers and COVID-19 have failed. “It is because of the policies of the government that the farmers have been forced to stage protests while the cases of the virus are increasing again due to acute mismanagement,” he said.
State Congress president Selja Kumari said the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the State were working against the interests of the farmers due to arrogance of power. Senior leader Randeep Singh Surjewala termed detention of the farmers an act of dictatorship.
