- Sunday, May 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
FORMER Indian National Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday (19) praised India’s farmers saying they made “arrogance bow its head” through “satyagraha” after the country’s Narendra Modi government decided to repeal three controversial farm laws that saw the peasants protesting for several months.
The 51-year-old leader’s remarks came after Modi announced the withdrawal of the laws in an address to the nation earlier in the day.
“Country’s ‘annadatas’ (food providers) have made arrogance bow its head through satyagraha,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi. “Congratulations on this victory against injustice! Jai Hind, Jai Hind ka Kisan,” he added. He also posted an old video in which he said that the Modi government would be forced to take back the laws.
देश के अन्नदाता ने सत्याग्रह से अहंकार का सर झुका दिया।
अन्याय के खिलाफ़ ये जीत मुबारक हो!जय हिंद, जय हिंद का किसान!#FarmersProtest https://t.co/enrWm6f3Sq
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 19, 2021
ALSO READ: Narendra Modi decides to repeal three farm laws, apologises
Several farmers had been protesting and set up camps at the borders of national capital Delhi since November last year with the demand that three controversial laws — the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 — be rolled back and a new law made to guarantee minimum support price for crops.
Modi’s repeals farm laws: It’s not just about politics
The government said throughout that the new laws were pro-farmer but the farmers said that the laws would leave them at the mercy of the corporates. The government held 11 rounds of talks with the farmers over the issue. Modi on Friday apologised to the countrymen saying his government failed to convince the farmers and urged the agriculturalists to return home.
Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is leading the Congress for the battle for Uttar Pradesh, India’s most crucial political state, against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of Modi next year, lashed out at the prime minister saying the latter made the decision sensing defeat in the upcoming assembly elections.
“Six hundred farmers martyred, more than 350 days of struggle, Narendra Modi ji your minister’s son crushed the farmers to death, you didn’t care,” Vadra, who is the Congress’s general secretary, said.
“Your party leaders insulted the farmers and called them terrorists, traitors, goons, miscreants, you yourself called them ‘andolanjeevi’ (who live by protests), beat them with sticks, arrested them,” the Congress general secretary in-charge Uttar Pradesh alleged.
600 से अधिक किसानों की शहादत
350 से अधिक दिन का संघर्ष, @narendramodi जी आपके मंत्री के बेटे ने किसानों को कुचल कर मार डाला, आपको कोई परवाह नहीं थी।आपकी पार्टी के नेताओं ने किसानों का अपमान करते हुए उन्हें आतंकवादी, देशद्रोही, गुंडे, उपद्रवी कहा, आपने खुद आंदोलनजीवी बोला..1/3
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) November 19, 2021
..उनपर लाठियाँ बरसायीं, उन्हें गिरफ़्तार किया।
अब चुनाव में हार दिखने लगी तो आपको अचानक इस देश की सच्चाई समझ में आने लगी – कि यह देश किसानों ने बनाया है, यह देश किसानों का है, किसान ही इस देश का सच्चा रखवाला है और कोई सरकार किसानों के हित को कुचलकर इस देश को नहीं चला सकती। 2/3
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) November 19, 2021
.. आपकी नियत और आपके बदलते हुए रुख़ पर विश्वास करना मुश्किल है।
किसान की सदैव जय होगी।
जय जवान, जय किसान, जय भारत। 3/3— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) November 19, 2021
“Now, sensing defeat in polls, you have suddenly started to realise the reality of this country — this country has been built by farmers, it is a country of farmers, they are the real protectors of the country and no government can run the country by trampling upon the interests of the farmers,” she tweeted in Hindi.
“It’s difficult to believe your intentions and your changing attitude. The farmer will always be hailed. Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Bharat,” she said.
The Congress, which will defend power in Punjab and seek to return to power in Uttar Pradesh next year, described the Modi government’s announcement to repeal the three farm laws as a victory against injustice and said arrogance had to bow its head before the peaceful ‘satyagrah’ of farmers.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, “Glory to the farmer! The agitation has won and the arrogance has lost! Satyameva Jayate.”
किसान की जय ! किसान है अजय !!
संघर्ष जीता, अहंकार हारा !
सत्यमेव जयते !!!#FarmLaws_InjusticeByModi #FarmersProtest
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) November 19, 2021
Senior Congress leader and deputy leader of Congress in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, while welcoming the repeal of the farm laws, hoped the Modi government would draw lessons to not bypass Parliament and would meaningfully engage with the opposition before enacting laws.
Former Indian finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said, “What cannot be achieved by democratic protests can be achieved by the fear of impending elections.”
Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor tweeted, “Sometimes a brute majority isn’t enough. Democracy isn’t just about winning elections every five years. It is about respecting the people between elections. A lesson learned seven years too late by our feckless government.”
Sometimes a brute majority isn’t enough. Democracy isn’t just about winning elections every five years. It is about respecting the people between elections. A lesson learned seven years too late by our feckless government. https://t.co/kM9Zkn6jEI
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 19, 2021
