LUCKNOW: Launching a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary and party’s UP-in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday accused him of helping billionaires at the expense of farmers.
“Pradham Mantri ji ka 56 inch ka seena kewal arabaptiyon ke liye dhadakta hai (the 56 inch chest of PM throbs only for the billionaires of the country),” Priyanka said at a kisan mahapanchayat in Saharanpur. “In 1955, Jawaharlal Nehru had made laws against crop hoarding. But this law has been scrapped by the BJP government. This new law will help the arabpatis .
They will decide the price of farmers’ produce.” Priyanka promised the farmers of UP to scrap the three laws if the Congress came to power. “The three laws are demonic. If voted to power, we will scrap these laws.” Priyanka also charged the PM and other BJP leaders with “insulting” the farmers who were protesting against the laws.
She asserted that her party’s would stand by the protesting farmers solidly till the laws were repealed.
Wednesday’s event is part of the Congress’ outreach campaign ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ covering 27 districts of Uttar Pradesh with an eye on the Assembly polls in 2022. The Congress is aiming at the revival of its political fortunes in Uttar Pradesh where it has just one MP —Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli — in the Lok Sabha and just seven MLAs, including two rebels, in the UP Assembly.
Drama being enacted in the name of farmers: Minister
UP minister Anand Swarup Shukla said a “drama’ is being enacted in the name of farmers. He claimed that ‘gangs’ opposing the government have gone international. Shukla asked Congress leaders to ‘oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but not the country”.