The Congress on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should stop deceiving farmers and not ‘pretend’ to talk to the farmers in Madya Pradesh through video conference, while refusing to meet those who are agitating for the past three weeks at Delhi’s border over the three farm laws.
Addressing a press conference, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said Mr. Modi and his Ministers should apologise to the farmers for branding them as ‘Khalistanis’ and part of ‘tukde tukde’ gang. He held the Modi government responsible for the death of 24 farmers during the protests.
The party said the government must give up its stance of no repeal and immediately roll back the new farm laws.
Mr. Surjewala said that as Gujarat Chief Minister and head of a working group of CMs on agriculture years ago, Mr. Modi had suggested that minimum support price (MSP) should be given statutory provision and legal guarantee.
Responding to Prime Minister’s outreach among farmers in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress leader claimed that 47 of the 269 government registered agricultural produce markets have not had any business ever since the news farm laws were brought in; while another 143 farm produce markets had seen only 50% business.
The Congress also claimed that there had been as many as “six assaults” on the agriculture sector that had made farmers vulnerable in the past six years of the Modi government.
