NEW DELHI: Congress state leaders, including president Chaudhary Anil Kumar, were reportedly turned away from the farmers’ protest site at Ghazipur on Monday. They went there to support the ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by the farmers’ union.
The Congress leaders met Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait and sat at the site in support of the farmer’s agitation. However, the representatives of the unions asked them to leave or to sit somewhere else and suggested that they hold demonstrations in the national capital.
They also told the Delhi Congress chief not to politicise the farmers’ protest and use their platform to get political mileage. Speaking to media persons, Kumar said that he was leaving but his party would protest
on the streets.
“I can understand their position. Congress will protest on the streets. If they want us to leave, we won’t return. We came here for farmers and there is no political agenda,” he said.
Kumar said that the Congress has always supported farmers’ demands, and party president Sonia Gandhi and leader Rahul Gandhi have been speaking on the issue both inside and outside Parliament.
The president of the women’s wing of the Congress in Delhi Amrita Dhawan, however, denied that her party colleagues were asked to go away.
“They welcomed us and we met Rakesh Tikat also. We extended our support to farmers there. The issue has been taken out of context,” said Dhawan.
She was a part of the Congress group which met Tikait. Dhawan criticized the Central government for the prolonged impasse.
“It doesn’t matter what we were told. What matters is why the Prime Minister can’t visit farmer protest sites. If he can visit Central vista the night before, why can’t he hold a meeting with farmers’ union leaders? Why can’t he take a step to finish the deadlock? The government is hell bent on diverting the narrative,” she said.